On June 25th 2021, the West Fountain Parallel Fund’s portfolio company, ASR, passed in the SSE STAR Market Listing Review Committee Meeting. It indicates that the portfolio company with the highest investment amount, the highest shareholding ratio, and earliest investment stage, will soon be listed for public trading. ASR is also the first company invested into by West Fountain after the Fund establishment.West Fountain and Shenzhen Capital Group led the Series A Preferred financing of ASR in May 2017. In June 2018, West Fountain again led the Series B Preferred financing of the ASR with other investors including, Alibaba, IDG, Walden, Pudong Science and Technology, etc. Subsequently, ASR introduced industrial capital such as Xiaomi and Gree, as well as many well-known investors such as Sequoia, Hillhouse, and the National Internet Fund in the Series C and D financing.

ASR was established in April 2015, as a platform-type company which provides chips for wireless communication and ultra-large-scale chips. Since its establishment, ASR has been focusing on the research and development and technological innovation of wireless communication chips and now has R&D capabilities for multi-protocol non-cellular IoT chip, and has the ability to provide ultra-large-scale high-speed SoC customization and IP services. ASR's various products have broad application scenarios, including the consumer electronics market, such as mobile phones and smart wearable devices, and the intelligent IoT market such as smart security and smart home.

The founder of ASR, Mr. Tai Po Ka, is one of the world leaders in the mobile communication chip industry and one of the few entrepreneurs with an international perspective in the Chinese chip industry. RDA Microelectronics Inc. (“RDA”), previously founded by Mr. Tai, has a pivotal position in the field of international communication chips. In a short period of time, it became the number one radio frequency chip (RF) shipment, and the world's largest chip company for FM chips, with an annual shipment of more than 9 billion pieces. Mr. Tai withdrew after the Tsinghua Unigroup acquired RDA and founded ASR.

In 2017, it completed a cross-border merger and acquisition that expanded the company's world-class communication chip design team and IP. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, ASR has accumulated strong R&D capabilities, established a firm foothold in technology innovation, and has built a world-class baseband chip R&D team. At present, ASR has become the only two domestic baseband chip design companies that have their own fully developed Netcom technology besides HiSilicon. It will be the leading domestic manufacturer of mid-to-high-end mobile phone baseband chips after Huawei. With the R&D strength on cellular baseband chips and multi-protocol non-cellular IoT chips, ASR will soon become a key Chinese semiconductor unicorn and break through the monopoly of foreign companies in the future.

West Fountain: In 2017, investment in the semiconductor industry in China was not as sought after by funds as it is now. West Fountain and Shenzhen Capital Group recognized the industry huge potential and decided to take advantage early by leading an investment and to strongly support the company at that time. The main reason for the early investment is that they were optimistic about the founder and the strong experience management team. Adhering to the belief to invest in brilliant and experienced founders, we are very optimistic about the future development of ASR and believe that under the leadership of an excellent founding team, ASR will become a great semiconductor company.