Editor | Su Jianxun
In February, 2020, novel coronavirus epidemic raged in Wuhan.
Electricity has become one of the most scarce materials in the temporary reconstruction of schools and gymnasiums.
Because the original circuit of the venue is not easy to change, when medical staff and patients use electricity intensively, power overload and tripping often occur.
On February 5th, an alumnus of Wuhan University called the founder Chloe Wang.
At that time, Chloe Wang had just founded Zheng Hao EcoFlow (hereinafter referred to as "Zheng Hao"), and its portable energy storage products (also known as "outdoor power supply" and "big battery") were mainly used in earthquake rescue, emergency power supply and outdoor activities.
After the aid was confirmed, within two days, Chloe Wang and the team quickly counted the inventory, arranged for the ordered products to be sent overseas, and sent outdoor power equipment worth 6.5438+0.4 million yuan to two receiving hospitals.
The decision to donate was really not easy for Zheng Hao at first.
An employee of Zheng Hao told 36Kr that in 20 19, the company had just crossed the "death gate".
Zheng Hao has previously introduced small-capacity outdoor power products, but the capacity and charging efficiency are not enough to sell smoothly.
At the height of the crisis, there was only a few months' cash in the company account. In order to pay the employees, Chloe Wang once mortgaged the house in Shenzhen.
Even Gan Jie, the mentor of cheung kong graduate school of business Chloe Wang, was worried about this decision.
Cheung kong graduate school of business's official account shows that after knowing the idea of donation, Gan Jie asked Chloe Wang: "Can the company survive?"
"You can survive.
"Wang Lei replied.
This is a crucial period for Zheng Hao to donate power equipment to Fangcang Hospital, and the new products have been verified by the market.
20 19 May, Delta 1300, which focuses on ultra-fast charging and large capacity, was released, which became an important turning point in the development of Zheng Hao.
Delta 1300 is mainly fast charging, which can be fully charged in 1.6 hours, but many outdoor power supplies need 8- 12 hours; In addition, Delta 1300 can charge 90- 140 mobile phones in a fully charged state-both self-charging time and battery capacity have been greatly improved among similar products.
Source formula of Delta 1300 diagram of Zheng Hao EcoFlow's first fast-charging outdoor power supply
Through these two points, after 20 19, Zheng Hao gradually opened the overseas outdoor power supply market in China, and outdoor camping was very popular, and Zheng Hao became famous.
An insider told 36Kr that until 20 19, Huabao New Energy's "Electric Xiaoer" brand was almost synonymous with outdoor power supply, and the appearance of Zheng Hao Delta 1300 changed this pattern.
Outdoor power supply is a subdivision track occupied by China players.
The Research Report on the Development of Portable Energy Storage Industry in China (2023) shows that the global shipment of portable energy storage products in 2023 was only 52,000 units, and the global shipment in 2023 was 4.838 million units, which soared 90 times in five years, and 90% of the products were produced and provided by China enterprises.
The industry leader is controlled by Huabao New Energy, which was established on 20 1 1.
In 2020, Huabao has won the first place in the global market, accounting for about 65,438+06.6% of the outdoor power supply shipment market. In 2023, Huabao's new energy revenue was 23150,000 yuan.
Zheng Hao, established only five years ago, has a strong momentum.
In 2020, Zheng Hao's global shipment market share is 6.3%, ranking behind Warburg. In 2023, Zheng Hao's revenue was nearly 654.38+0.6 billion yuan.
In the capital market, Zheng Hao has become the favored object of investment institutions.
In June last year, it won the favor of Sequoia China, Gaoyou Venture Capital and CICC, and completed the second round of financing with a valuation of over $654.38+0 billion.
An investor told 36Kr that Zheng Hao is currently carrying out the latest financing with a valuation of 20-30 billion yuan, and "unknown institutions are hard to contact".
Meanwhile, Zheng Hao is already preparing to go public.
Its internal staff told 36Kr that it has decided to sell 4 billion yuan this year, with the goal of surpassing Huabao New Energy.
From obscurity to industry leaders, Zheng Hao has set foot on almost every correct node:
From the policy point of view, China's "double carbon" goal is that under the mode of energy storage as the way out, mobile power supply has both To B and To C attributes, and skillfully uses the sea and large-scale channels for financing; Coupled with the background of Chloe Wang DJI, the founder, Zheng Hao brought products and technology that are no less than human beings-step by step "accuracy", and Zheng Hao quickly grew into a unicorn in a special macro environment.
"Xili Xiaojiang", the slogan of the times of product first, seems to value the same person.
Chloe Wang, the founder of Zheng Hao, was the founder and head of DJI battery research and development department before he started his business on 20 17.
After starting a business, Zheng Hao got the investment from Professor Li Zexiang. He hatched DJI, and most of the initial teams came from DJI.
Employees who have worked in two companies told 36Kr that the corporate culture atmosphere is the same. After the employees who left DJI entered Zhengzhou, their work was basically seamless. Since the addresses of DJI and Zheng Hao are both in Xili Street, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Zheng Hao was told by employees: "Xixi.
There are indeed similarities between the two companies. Entrepreneurs grow up in the entrepreneurial atmosphere of HKU; It is also necessary to highlight the encirclement through technological innovation.
But the difference is that DJI can leave its opponent behind by virtue of the technical threshold of unmanned aerial vehicle, but the wall of outdoor power supply circuit in Zheng Hao is not as expensive as expected.
Outdoor power supply first broke out in overseas markets, and the industry was initially driven by several cross-border e-commerce, which often did not have R&D and manufacturing capabilities.
"They only design the appearance and don't participate in production. Instead, we use domestic factory resources to make processed products and use existing customers and sales channels to promote things.
"Sun Hua, a veteran of the new energy industry, told 36Kr.
In order to distinguish temperament, Sun Hua thinks that Huabao New Energy and other enterprises prefer e-commerce companies, and the company's business is driven by marketing.
"The boss think what products will sell well, according to what? The boss is the biggest product manager.
"
A former employee of Warburg also told 36Kr that Warburg has a product planning department, but the number is very small, "only one digit". The product plans are basically taken by Sun Zhongwei, the founder of the company.
Another feature of e-commerce companies is that the shortcomings of R&D are obvious.
It can also be seen from the listing prospectus of Huabao New Energy that from 20 19 to 2023, the proportion of R&D expenditure has been hovering below 3%.
By the end of 2023, the company had 859 employees, including R&D technicians 197, accounting for 22.93% of the total employees.
Zheng Hao is an alternative among cross-border e-commerce enterprises, with stronger scientific and technological attributes, with a team of about 1000 people, R&D personnel accounting for 40% of the total number of employees and 50 design teams.
This is related to the resume of founder Chloe Wang.
Born in Chloe Wang, he was admitted to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a score of 664 in 2006, and was admitted to the department of mechanical engineering of the University of Hong Kong on 20/0/0 to obtain his doctorate. His research direction is new energy battery technology.
After graduating from Dr. Kloc-0/4, Chloe Wang entered Shenzhen DJI, responsible for the construction of the R&D department of DJI batteries and the battery research and development of all products.
Chloe Wang, founder of Zheng Hao Ecological Flow, source formula.
For UAV products, battery life is the biggest bottleneck.
The DJI battery itself is purchased from the supplier. Chloe Wang led the team to improve the endurance of the new aerial drone from 20 minutes to more than 30 minutes through hardware integration and software system improvement.
Please don't underestimate these ten minutes. On the premise of small size and high power consumption, the battery density must be increased to the limit to improve the battery life of 1 minute. Ten minutes is a major breakthrough.
20 17 Chloe Wang co-founded Zheng Hao with three founders, three of whom were from DJI.
In the eyes of investors who have contacted Chloe Wang, Chloe Wang has a strong comprehensive ability and is a person who pays attention to product experience, design and efficiency.
A DJI employee thinks that in the battery department of DJI, Chloe Wang has not only accumulated traditional trade and processing, but also accumulated an understanding of product construction such as design, brand promotion, channel construction and market education.
"Few companies use product thinking for outdoor power supply. Zheng Hao is one of them.
"
With the brand of DJI, similar product thinking follows closely Zheng Hao.
In 20 19, Zheng Hao released the new product Delta 1300. This product has two main functions.
One is ultra-fast charging, which can be filled within 2 hours, 3-4 times faster than the market products; Second, it can drive high-power household appliances such as induction cookers and electric ovens.
As far as experience is concerned, these two points almost killed all outdoor power products at that time.
Due to functional innovation, Zheng Hao has obtained higher product prices.
Through official channels, the price of Delta 1300 is 6,999 yuan, and the price of Huabao's same model electric Xiaoer 1000 is 3,999 yuan.
At present, there are not only outdoor power supplies in Zheng Hao, but also solar panels, outdoor air conditioners, modular storage (B-oriented) and other products.
Source formula of ecological map of outdoor power supply and solar panels in EcoFlow, Zheng Hao
After all, outdoor power supply is a household appliance, so it is very important to find the market and users accurately under the storm line of DJI route.
Zheng Hao is coming. Besides the enhancement of fast charging technology, crowdfunding is still looking for ways to verify the market.
From the beginning, Zheng Hao chose crowdsourcing platform.
In 20 18, Zheng Hao announced on the American crowdfunding platform that Indiegogo launched the first outdoor power product, RIVER 370, and received an advance payment of 1.08 million US dollars.
However, this RIVER 370 is a "prehistoric product" with fast charging function introduced by Zheng Hao, and now it has disappeared from its shelves.
What Zheng Hao is popular overseas is the first fast charging product DELTA 1300 mentioned above.
On the American Kickstarter crowdfunding website, DELTA 1300 received a crowdfunding amount of 2.8 million US dollars and 2,662 supporters, which greatly exceeded the expected target of 50,000 US dollars.
"After Delta 1300 was sold on the crowdfunding platform, we have been going uphill and getting better and better.
Zheng Hao employee Liu Tian told 36Kr.
Subsequently, two products, River 600 and DELTA Pro, followed closely and were first released on two crowdsourcing platforms, namely Kickstarter in the United States and Makuake in Japan.
DELTA Pro, which started with a battery capacity of 3600Wh, raised $ 1.2 1.80 million through Kickstarter-an amount comparable to financing, making it the largest technology product of the platform in terms of annual financing.
Liu Tian reminded the crowdsourcing project of 36Kr DELTA Pro: "The amount record is broken almost every day. I was very excited for the first few days, but I became numb at the back and the amount was rising.
"Zheng Haohao's post on the platform shows that the product raised $ 654.38+0 million in 654.38+0 hours, which exceeded the original target amount of 654.38+0.2 times at the end of the project.
Delta Pro figure source formula large-capacity outdoor power supply Zheng Hao EcoFlow3.6 kWh
Zheng Hao's products are so popular on crowdfunding platforms. The reason is that about 80% of the core users of the Kickstarter platform are men, and their annual income exceeds 65,438+10,000 US dollars.
They look forward to the emergence of new inventions and products and are willing to provide financial support.
Crowdfunding has undoubtedly brought some financial support to Zheng Hao's product development.
More importantly, this is a quick, direct and effective market verification method before the product is fully listed.
In crowdfunding, enterprises only need to provide product prototypes instead of finished products, and enterprises can test the reaction of water users in advance before mass production.
For example, on the Kickstarter platform, fans in Zheng Hao said, "Will the frequency output of the battery drop to the European 50hz standard?" Frequently asked questions. "Delta 1300 can charge other portable power storage devices? Wait a minute.
These points out a certain direction for the iteration of Zheng Hao products.
In order to give back to the early supporters, Zheng Hao provided users with a price similar to the early bird price, which was 500- 1000 dollars cheaper than the official sale.
But crowdsourcing platform is often only the first stop of enterprise product release.
After the product goes on the market, Zheng Hao still has to promote the product to consumers through various channels.
In the past, cross-border e-commerce only focused on online channels.
Because the channels such as Amazon, Lotte, Independent Station and official website are relatively smooth, cross-border e-commerce enterprises can mail their products to users only by building their own warehouses or renting overseas warehouses.
Offline channels will test the channel business resources of enterprises and need to cooperate with large enterprises and specialty stores. Traditional cross-border e-commerce is reluctant to contact online channels because of its long chain.
However, Chloe Wang said in an interview with the media that outdoor power supply is a product with high unit price and experience. Want to get more growth, can not do without online promotion and experience.
Up to now, Zheng Hao has established more than 800 retail channels in Europe, cooperated with large chain stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco, and cooperated with outdoor sports retailers such as Sanfu and Decaux in China.
Zheng Hao EcoFlow participated in overseas online exhibitions.
36Kr revealed that Zheng Hao currently has a sales team of 100 people, including the team in China (after-sales, customer service, live broadcast, etc.). ), Japan, North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
However, since its establishment five years ago, why has Zheng Hao rapidly spread such intensive sales channels?
Both Liu Tian and Sun Hua said that Zheng Hao "borrowed" the sales system of DJI drones to some extent.
It is understood that in the early days of Zheng Hao, more than half of the team's employees came from DJI, and Eli Morgan Harris, the co-founder of Zheng Hao, who was responsible for global sales and market expansion, was responsible for the development of UAV business in the global industry (Zheng Hao was dismissed by Eli Morgan Harris of DJI).
DJI drones account for 80% of the global drone market, with stores all over the world.
Liu Tian said that the target groups of DJI and Zheng Hao have many similarities, such as high relative income.
"Many foreign sales channels can be shared with DJI. Many European agents who used to sell drones are selling our products. When users buy drones, they also buy outdoor power.
He said that at present, some authorized stores (non-direct stores) of DJI will also sell products from Zheng Hao.
Sun Hua also said that Zheng Hao's online channels received huge dividends, especially when the Russian-American war broke out in overseas markets in the first half of this year.
Huabao New Energy is stepping up the layout of European channels.
The rise of Zheng Hao is almost inevitable when the left hand grasps the technical foundation such as fast charging, the right hand uses crowdfunding to accurately verify the market and adopts DJI sales system.
Zheng Hao, a minor, has a household outdoor power supply, which is very popular. It has attracted companies such as Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., Huawei and Xiaomi to settle in, and major companies have launched outdoor power products.
However, Liu Tian, an employee in Zheng Hao, thinks that these big companies are more inclined to find someone to work for them instead of going out directly.
"Huawei also looked for our agent last year, but it was not negotiated because of conditions.
Huawei should not spend energy on product development, design and production from 0- 1. High probability investment agency products, with their own logo.
"
This shows that brand cannibalism is inevitable in the future.
Some investors told 36Kr that although the outdoor power supply itself has just started to have demand, the frequency of use is not high, and it may be as high as 200 times a year.
"The market has a ceiling. After the end of giants such as Huawei and Xiaomi, the market will gradually become saturated.
"Like the rechargeable battery market, we believe that after the outdoor power supply enters the brand killing stage, big brands will be more favorable.
With brand-new technology and sales model, Zheng Hao has established a certain brand influence and user reputation.
But this does not mean that the moat in Zheng Hao is strong enough.
Peng Fei, the blogger of 3C Consumer Electronics Review, is a fan of Zheng Hao.
He noticed that since last year, Zheng Hao has not been the only player with the function of fast charge and fast release, and friends such as Delan are also keeping pace. On the other hand, the function upgrade of Zheng Hao's new products this year is not as amazing as the first generation products, but the outdoor power supply is made bigger, lighter and smaller.
Many interviewees also told 36Kr that the core technologies of outdoor power supply are mainly batteries, battery management system BMS, inverters and so on, and the barriers are not high.
In other words, the time window brought by Zheng Hao's technological and sales advantages will not be too long.
Unlike outdoor power supply, Zheng Hao must start looking for a second product that can maintain its stamina.
Expanding ecology is a common practice.
In essence, outdoor power supply is mobile power supply, which may become the expansion direction of Zheng Hao's field troubled by mobile power consumption in the fuel age.
Zheng Hao EcoFlow outdoor air conditioning source formula
It is understood that in addition to outdoor power supply, Zheng Hao has also introduced outdoor air conditioning and modular storage.
The battery capacity of outdoor air conditioner is 1008Wh, which can continuously cool for 3 hours and last for 8 hours in energy-saving mode.
However, Liu Tian said that despite the company's preheating and release through various channels, the market response of outdoor air conditioners is still widespread.
Modular storage is mainly for trailers, cabins in the forest, oil wells and other scenes, replacing traditional fuel engines.
Zheng Hao employees said that mold storage is almost fixed on the wall, the battery capacity is large, and the whole set of products is also very expensive.
"Technology products usually set a lifestyle for everyone.
Some people want to consider the environment when shopping. Storage is not 100% environmentally friendly, but it is much safer than fire and green.
Even if the experience is not as good as using a fuel tank, I want to give some space in the car to outdoor power supply.
"Peng Fei said to 36Kr.
But he admits that this lifestyle of outdoor power supply and derivative scenes still belongs to a few people.
36Kr said that of the internal sales target of 4 billion in Zheng Hao this year, outdoor power supply accounts for 780%, accounting for at least 3 billion, and new products such as outdoor air conditioners and mold storage account for about 654.38+0 billion.
In addition, Zheng Hao is developing towards home storage.
If outdoor power supply is a large charging pile, then household electricity storage is a super-large charging pile that can supply power to the family. (The larger energy storage products are industrial and commercial energy storage and power generation side energy storage).
Generally, the built-in power of outdoor power supply is between 0.5 and 5 degrees, and the built-in power of ordinary household storage is between 5 and 20 degrees.
Since the beginning of this year, under the background of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Europe has been in a state of energy shortage, and domestic storage in overseas markets has shown great potential.
"Europeans are worried about the stability of home power supply, and the electricity price in Europe is particularly high. Therefore, many families are particularly enthusiastic about buying new energy, and they have installed photovoltaic and power storage products very well.
"Sun Hua said.
Household electricity storage can make household electricity self-sufficient, which can not only alleviate the instability of power supply, but also reduce the cost of household electricity.
A set of household energy storage products is about $ 654.38+00000. If users sell the surplus power generated by energy storage to the power grid, they can not only offset the installation cost of energy storage, but also earn $56,000.
Tesla should not be supplied for a long time on Powerwall, an American household energy storage product.
"This is an opportunity for us. In a few years, everything will be put away, and Tesla's production capacity will also increase. It's really too late.
"Liu said.
Tesla Powerwall source formula
36Kr said that Zheng Hao has begun to explore the power consumption solutions for home scenes.
However, compared with friends, Zheng Hao still has less advantages.
Huabao New Energy also plans to set up a high-end brand of household energy storage, and the products will be listed next year.
Delan Company, which ranks behind Warburg and Zheng Hao in outdoor power market share, launched home storage products last year.
Previously, domestic companies such as Paineng Technology have taken root overseas for many years.
More importantly, in the field of household energy storage, Zheng Hao needs to start from scratch, regardless of technology or sales system.
At the R&D level, due to the higher built-in power, the consistency of battery core and battery management system is required for household electricity storage, and the safety of electricity consumption is the primary task.
If the house savings catch fire, it may bring a devastating blow to the overseas development of domestic brands.
Fortunately, Zheng Hao doesn't have much experience on the road to mass storage development.
At the sales level, domestic energy storage no longer relies on the M2C (manufacturer to consumer) mode of cross-border e-commerce, but relies on the local service team of agents, installers or distributors of enterprises to provide users with maintenance services for nearly 20 years.
"Because of the need to connect with the local power grid, combined with different home wiring design schemes, the location of the distribution panel, and the filling method of the lines in the wall, each user's scheme is different and must be completed by a professional electrician.
"Sun Hua said.
The target user groups and sales channels of home energy storage and outdoor power supply are inconsistent.
This means that part of the sales system established by Zheng Hao using DJI resources in the past may not be effective in the field of household storage.
More importantly, if you compete with brands such as Tesla in the field of home storage, users will want to choose brands with higher visibility.
This is also the reason why domestic enterprises choose to deeply connect with local distributors and installers. By using the dealer relationship, enterprises are expected to form a relatively stable monopoly regional market in overseas regions.
Since 20 17, Zheng Hao has expanded from a team of dozens of people to a scale of 1,000 people, and the Shenzhen office has moved three times.
From the unknown stage of starting a business to being published in Time magazine, Zheng Hao presented a youthful image.
Is it possible for Zheng Hao to be the next DJI? An investor has high hopes for this. He told 36Kr that the storage market is much larger than that of drones, and there is also a lot of room for imagination.
"Can Zheng Hao surpass DJI? It's quite possible.
"
(Sun Hua, Peng Fei and Liu Tian are all pseudonyms).
See article:
Cheung kong graduate school of business Solves the Power Supply Problem of Wuhan Shelter in Two Days —— How was the Yangtze River "Flash" tempered? 》
Knife researcher "interview was established for five years, with a valuation of more than $654.38+0 billion. How did Zheng Hao EcoFlow become a unicorn by camping? " 》
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