In the past, the flexible screen "unicorn" Rouyu technology is now in danger.

When the folding screen has become a hot spot in the mobile phone market, and the players in the field are striding forward, Rouyu Technology, which used to shout for mastering the flexible screen technology of "low cost and high yield", has lost its footing.

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Once applied for listing in science and technology innovation board

On the last day of 22, Rouyu Technology submitted an application for IPO in science and technology innovation board to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. According to the prospectus (declaration draft), Rouyu Technology, which has suffered losses for years, has no "hematopoietic" ability. From 217 to 219 and the first half of 22, the company's accumulated revenue was only 517 million yuan, but its accumulated loss reached 3.195 billion yuan.

in February 221, rouyu technology withdrew its listing application. Since then, Rouyu Technology has not submitted an IPO application, and the problem of financial shortage has begun to appear.

before the Qingming holiday in 222, the problem of unpaid wages of Rouyu Technology was listed on the hot search list many times, which once again triggered a hot discussion. What Li Yanhong didn't expect was: "On the afternoon of March 31st, various departments of the company informed one after another that Tomb-Sweeping Day would have a holiday for three months. Among them, April is paid with full salary, May and June are calculated according to Shenzhen minimum wage, and the social security of these two months should also be adjusted according to the minimum base. "

What makes most employees of Rouyu Technology, including Li Yanhong, even more dissatisfied is that Rouyu Technology has never issued a formal notice about a three-month holiday. "The company is worried that this kind of news will have a negative impact on employees, but employees are worried that if the company does not issue an official notice in the official name, will the follow-up company interpret the three-month period as employee absenteeism?"

The product is still in the market expansion stage

According to public information, Bill Liu was born in 1983. At the age of 17, he was admitted to the Department of Electronic Engineering in Tsinghua University with the top score of science college entrance examination in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province. In 212, Bill Liu started to establish multinational company Rouyu Technology in many places. Rouyu Technology, which emerged with its flexible display screen, quickly became the object of competition in the investment circle, and head institutions such as IDG, Shenzhen Venture Capital and Songhe Capital came to an end one after another. According to Qixinbao data, in the fourth quarter of 219, Rouyu Technology completed a $3 million series F financing.

however, while financing continuously, Rouyu Technology has always been difficult to achieve profitability. Since its establishment nine years ago, Rouyu's screen has not appeared in the products of any mainstream mobile phone manufacturer, and its own brand is hard to find in public channels. Its technical originality, mass production capacity and customer acquisition ability have also begun to be questioned.

At present, there are two main technical routes for flexible screens. One is the polysilicon (LTPS) technology mainly developed by companies such as BOE, TCL Technology and Samsung, and almost all the products such as folding screen mobile phones on the market are supplied by these companies. The other is the ultra-low temperature non-silicon process integration technology (ULT-NSSP) independently developed by Rouyu.

according to Bill Liu's introduction, the above two technologies are essentially different. "ULT-NSSP technology is better than LTPS in mass production capacity, because different material systems and different manufacturing processes are adopted, the overall production process is greatly simplified, the equipment investment cost is greatly reduced, the yield is significantly improved, and the product bending reliability is extremely strong. In contrast, LTPS technology requires relatively high temperature and complicated process, resulting in very low yield and bending reliability of fully flexible screen foldable screen, and basically only curved surfaces can be made before, and the number of folds is very limited. "

in the past few years, rouyu technology has always been difficult to open the market due to the adoption of new technology routes independently developed. According to the data in the prospectus (application draft), in 217-219 and the first half of 22, the operating income of Rouyu Technology was 64.7267 million yuan, 11 million yuan, 23 million yuan and 12 million yuan respectively, and the corresponding net profit returned to the mother was-36 million yuan,-8 million yuan,-1.7 billion yuan and-96 million yuan respectively. For the main reason for the continuous loss, Rouyu explained: "The product is still in the stage of market expansion, and the sales scale is small and the research and development needs to invest a lot of money."

At present, Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi, etc. have not reached a cooperation with Rouyu, and only ZTE has publicly acknowledged the cooperation, but the follow-up actions have not been disclosed so far. In addition to mobile phones, Rouyu Technology tried to apply flexible screens to B-end industry customers such as consumers, sports events and conferences, but the effect was not obvious.

finally waiting for the strategic partner

In January 222, Rouyu Technology, with a tight capital chain, finally waited for the "White Horse Knight"-Shenzhen Zhongzhi Weian Robot Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhongzhi Weian). Kaixinbao information shows that Zhongzhi Wei 'an was established in July 218, and its legal representative is Zhong Xiangyu.

On the evening of January 17th, 222, Rouyu Technology WeChat WeChat official account issued a document saying that on January 16th, Zhongzhi Weian signed a strategic cooperation contract with Rouyu Technology. Based on the cooperation agreement, Zhongzhi Weian will purchase flexible display screens, flexible sensors and integrated software and hardware solutions from Rouyu Technology in batches for the company's entire line of commercial robot products. Since 222, the cumulative purchase amount has been about 3 billion yuan for three consecutive years.

At the signing ceremony, Zhong Xiangyu, Chairman of Cizhi Wei 'an, said: "The robot product itself is an important carrier of the display screen. In 221, the market share of CIOT-brand robots in Cizhi Wei 'an exceeded 75,, and they were applied in 5+ scenes such as office buildings, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, supermarkets, government affairs and exhibition halls, which means that Cizhi Wei 'an's intelligent commercial service robots have a broad market space ...

Zhongzhi Wei 'an, which was established just over three years ago, is currently in the B round of financing, with a registered capital of 1 million yuan. So, can Zhongzhi Weian save Rouyu Technology? In this regard, Li Yanhong said: "At least as an employee, I didn't see any particularly substantial progress. At first, the other party said that the disinfection robot' face' could use a flexible screen, and it was said that several were made. But in fact, Rouyu had no money at the beginning of this year. Later, I learned that this strategic agreement has no actual constraints on both sides. Does this consumer-grade robot really need a more expensive flexible screen? "

in Li Yanhong's view, the "grain shortage" of Rouyu Technology has a lot to do with the judgment of Bill Liu and other senior management teams of Rouyu. "Including the misjudgment of financing, why are you so sure that it will arrive next month? In fact, how many' next months' have not arrived, and in this process, shouldn't we reflect as early as possible? The last thing I don't understand is, under normal circumstances, if an enterprise wants to continue to operate and realizes that there is not much money in its account, should it lay off employees or make business adjustments? But the company didn't. "

Li Yanhong further said: "It has also been circulated within the company that other shareholders have discussed the introduction of investment, which is said to involve diluting the founder's equity, including introducing government relief funds, but there is no following. I also heard that Mr. Liu borrowed money from outside, and borrowed one or two hundred million yuan or how much (the specific amount is not clear). "

222 is the fifth year for Wang Miao to work in Rouyu Technology. According to her understanding, "Bill Liu is reluctant to delegate power to professional managers. The direction of the company is finally like this, which shows that it can't stand scrutiny in the market. But from a personal point of view, I still hope that the company is getting better and better. "

rouyu's prospectus once disclosed: "the company adopts a special voting structure. according to the arrangement of the articles of association (draft), holders of class a ordinary shares can vote for 4 votes per share, while holders of class b shares can vote for 1 vote per share. At present, Bill Liu, the actual controller, holds 38.61% of the shares of the company, all of which are Class A common shares issued by the company, accounting for 71.56% of the voting rights of the company. The actual controller plays a decisive role in the operation and management of the company and matters that need to be approved by the shareholders' meeting. Affected by the special voting rights structure, the decision-making ability of minority shareholders will be limited. "

Li Yanhong said that she no longer expected Rouyu Technology and decided to start looking for a job. She also hopes that there will be government funds or investors with industrial operation ability to save Rouyu Technology in the future.

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