Capital Migration: Five Years On, An In‑Depth Analysis Of China’s 11 High‑Growth Venture Capital Tracks In 2025

T Juzi data reveal a pronounced bifurcation in China’s venture capital landscape: while financing in consumer categories such as second‑hand e‑commerce and same‑city logistics plunged by more than 95%, hard‑technology sectors including drones, robotics, new materials and aerospace recorded multiple‑fold increases in both deal count and capital raised. This divergence marks a structural shift in investor preference from narrative‑driven opportunities toward technology‑anchored value creation, from traffic and short‑term arbitrage to durable competitive advantages and long‑term returns.

The most dramatic expansions occurred in a handful of emerging hardware and deep‑tech domains. The drone sector led in event‑count growth at 504% and financing growth of 311%, rising from 23 financing events and RMB 1.757 billion in 2021 to 139 events and RMB 7.227 billion in 2025. That surge reflects a confluence of factors: defense demand under civil‑military integration, policy support for the low‑altitude economy, scaled logistics applications, and a transition from consumer to industrial drone use cases. Robotics likewise emerged as a standout, with event growth of 299% and financing up 195%, culminating in RMB 58.776 billion of capital in 2025. Investment flowed across the full robotics value chain—from industrial automation to service and humanoid platforms—with large financings for companies such as UBTECH, Unitree and Fourier Intelligence and a visible move toward factory‑scale deployment of humanoid systems.

Optics and optoelectronics experienced explosive expansion as well, with event growth of 272% and financing growth of 94%, driven by domestic substitution pressures within the semiconductor supply chain and rising demand for controllable core components such as lithography optics, precision lenses and LiDAR. Aerospace financing rose substantially, reaching RMB 17.63 billion in 2025 and reflecting the strategic elevation of commercial space, satellite internet and propulsion technologies; although its growth rate trailed that of drones and robotics, aerospace’s high technical barriers and strategic importance position it as a long‑horizon investment theme. New materials recorded 616 financing events and RMB 48.145 billion in proceeds, a 113% increase in capital, underscoring investor focus on upstream materials that underpin advanced manufacturing—from semiconductor substrates to carbon fiber and graphene.

Complementary equipment and manufacturing‑enabling tracks also expanded robustly. Electronics, intelligent equipment and 3D printing together form the core machinery layer for smart manufacturing, each showing strong event and financing growth as firms pursue higher automation, customization and integration with AI and IoT. Synthetic biology, machinery and auto‑parts financing grew at a steadier pace, reflecting the intelligent upgrade of traditional industries and the deepening of the new‑energy vehicle supply chain from batteries to sensing and control systems.

Three principal insights emerge from the data. First, drones have moved decisively from consumer novelty to industrial ubiquity, with agricultural spraying, infrastructure inspection and logistics becoming major demand drivers; policy recognition of the low‑altitude economy has removed commercialization obstacles, and market leaders such as DJI are extending from consumer dominance into industrial segments while EHang advances urban air mobility concepts. Second, robotics is being transformed by the convergence of advanced AI models and hardware, enabling embodied intelligence that shifts robots from deterministic tools to agents capable of task understanding; companies including UBTECH, Unitree and Galbot exemplify this transition. Third, hard‑technology tracks such as new materials, semiconductors and aerospace are central to the domestic substitution and autonomous‑control agenda, with capital targeting firms that can break foreign monopolies and secure upstream capabilities.

Deeper analysis identifies five core engines powering this reallocation of capital. Strategic imperatives for domestic substitution and technological self‑reliance have concentrated investment on bottleneck areas—semiconductor equipment, industrial software and advanced materials—to secure supply‑chain resilience. Manufacturing modernization and the imperative to replace labor with automation have created persistent demand for robots and intelligent equipment. Policy support, from national strategies to large‑scale industrial funds and tax incentives, continues to catalyze private capital. Breakthroughs in AI, particularly large language and multimodal models, have endowed robots with more capable decision‑making and perception, accelerating commercial adoption. Finally, global supply‑chain realignment and China’s strategic positioning in upstream segments—exemplified by new‑energy vehicle clusters and Belt‑and‑Road demand—have expanded application markets for high‑end equipment and materials.

The period from 2021 to 2025 therefore represents more than a cyclical rotation; it signals a paradigmatic change in investment logic. The contraction of 27 previously overheated tracks reflected a clearing of excesses from a decade of model‑driven speculation, while the ascent of 11 hard‑technology tracks previews a decade in which technological capability and industrial depth determine value. Quantitatively, the data are striking: a 504% increase in drone deal activity, RMB 58.7 billion funneled into robotics, and RMB 48.1 billion directed to new materials. These figures illustrate a concerted move up the global value chain, a strategic commitment to technological self‑sufficiency, and the materialization of new productive forces.

Capital flows have decisively shifted, and the era of hard technology has arrived.