Royole Corporation, a US-based flexible display technology developer backed by media company International Data Group (IDG), confirmed an $80m pre-series D investment by Warmsun Holding Group yesterday.
Founded in 2012, Royole produces what it claims are the world’s thinnest full-colour flexible displays. They are 0.01 mm thick and have a bending radius of 1 mm.
The funding, secured at a post-money valuation of approximately $3bn, will help support construction of a 100,000 square foot manufacturing facility in China for the displays that was initiated in late 2015, as well as sales, research and development.
Earlier reports pegged the size of Warmsun’s investment at RMB500m ($74m). The funding follows more than $200m in capital raised by Royole between 2012 and 2015.
The IDG-affiliated IDG Capital Partners took part in a $172m series C round for Royole in August 2015 that included Shenzhen Capital Group, Shenzhen Green Pine Capital Partners, Jack and Fischer Investment and Alpha Wealth Finance.
Royole had previously raised an eight-figure dollar amount in a 2013 series B round featuring IDG Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group and Shenzhen Green Pine Capital. Its backers also include Citic Capital, Fuho Capital, KIG Capital Advisors and Qianhai FOF.
Bill Liu, Royoke’s founder and CEO, said: “Warmsun’s early participation is a terrific kick off to our series D round of funding. It fully demonstrates the industry’s confidence in the future growth of Royole Corporation. We continue to work with a number of other investors to conclude series D funding.”
– Photo courtesy of Royole Corporation. An earlier version of this article, published on November 7, reported the size of the round as $74m.