Zeng Yuqun is accelerating his investment pace.

On September 15, CATL (300750.SZ) announced that Xiamen Ruiting, wholly owned by Chairman Zeng Yuqun, would contribute 4.48 billion yuan in cash to subscribe to the Yiyuan Venture Capital Fund, accounting for a 77.7% stake.

The "Battery King" is investing alongside him. Its subsidiary Ningbo Wending will contribute 1.12 billion yuan to subscribe to the Yiyuan Venture Capital Fund, taking a 19.4% stake.

On the same day, Mindong Times, an affiliated enterprise of the "Battery King," contributed 500 million yuan to subscribe to another fund called Shenyuan Venture Capital.

Adding up the three capital commitments, Zeng personally and CATL together shelled out 6.1 billion yuan for investment.

Zeng Yuqun himself holds no position in the two new funds, which are fully managed by Puquan Capital. He and CATL play the role of limited partners (LPs), joining other financiers in handing their money over to others to manage.

The man behind the scenes is a person named Hu Dianjun. In just one day, the scale of funds under his management suddenly grew by 10.6 billion yuan.

Broad Connections

Zeng Yuqun trusts Hu Dianjun, and many manufacturing tycoons have also lent him their support.

Take the Shenyuan Venture Capital fund as an example. Its total subscribed capital reached 4.9 billion yuan. Runze Technology, owned by Hebei's richest woman Zhou Chaonan, invested 1 billion yuan. The Tang father-and-son duo behind the Yutong group contributed 1 billion yuan. Hunan's richest woman Zhou Qunfei followed with 500 million yuan.

The ability to win the favor of so many tycoons stems from Hu Dianjun's rich resources and years of grinding experience in investment and hard-tech circles.

Hu keeps a low profile. Born in 1966, he graduated from Peking University's physics department, and his first job was teaching at Tangshan Institute of Engineering and Technology.

At age 29, he entered the venture capital industry, having worked at institutions such as Guocheng Technology Investment and Guangcai Investment.

A decade later, Hu moved to Han's Laser as board secretary. At the time, this laser equipment giant was in its post-listing expansion phase. Hu Dianjun participated in completing two rounds of refinancing and earned the title of "Top 100 Board Secretary of Listed Companies."

To this day, Hu Dianjun still serves as a director of Han's Laser, participating in the management of this hundred-billion-market-cap enterprise.

Since then, his name has appeared on the director lists of hard-tech companies such as Kedali, Jingzhida, and O-Film.

Kedali makes battery structural components and is an upstream supplier in the power battery supply chain. Jingzhida makes semiconductor testing equipment. O-Film focuses on optical lenses and camera modules.

Hu Dianjun's roles at these three companies happen to cover the three main hard-tech lines of new energy, semiconductors, and optics.

He also serves as executive president of Mingshi Investment. In 2023, CATL founded Puquan Capital (CATL Capital), and the 57-year-old Hu became its executive partner.

Puquan currently has five partners — CATL New Energy Industry Investment, Hu Dianjun, Lai Xueshi, Beyond Vision, and Xiamen Hongshu Investment.

CATL New Energy Industry Investment is a wholly owned subsidiary of the "Battery King," with a 45% subscription ratio. Hu Dianjun subscribes 25%, making him the second-largest contributor.

This figure shows that Hu himself has put in a considerable amount of real money, giving him a strong voice.

Staying Behind the Scenes

Hu Dianjun's team's most recent move was seizing an investment opportunity in DeepSeek.

In July, DeepSeek's first funding round closed and the investors were revealed. The shareholding platform Hangzhou Chengli holds about 8.5% of DeepSeek's shares.

Tencent obtained more than 33% of Chengli's stake. CATL holds an 11.7% stake, and Puquan Capital holds about 5%. NetEase, JD.com, and IDG each hold 10%.

Being able to grab a share among a host of internet giants, Puquan's confidence comes from CATL and its unique structure.

At its founding, Puquan established a structure of "LP funding plus professional team management."

"Puquan's unique advantage is still its deep binding with CATL, as well as its relatively independent market-oriented position," Cao Long, a partner at Hengyu Investment, told reporters. CATL's own strategic investments are directly related to the listed company and, constrained by the various restrictions on listed companies, the scope for direct investment is very limited.

According to Qichacha data, Puquan has participated in investments in more than 18 projects, preferring "hard tech, early-to-mid stage" projects.

For example, in June 2025, it led the investment in Galbot. Puquan also invested in EngineAI and Xinuo Future.

It has also laid out positions in the components segment, participating in robot tactile sensor company Bluepoint Touch, autonomous driving maker Eacon, and underlying intelligent chip manufacturer Silan Technology.

Up and down CATL's industry chain, Hu Dianjun has struck multiple times.

For example, in September 2025, Puquan Capital set up the Xiamen Puyu investment platform and acquired a 44.8% stake in Hangzhou Lanran. The target company mainly engages in ion exchange membranes and electrodialysis technology, and had previously failed in its IPO.

Hu Dianjun's team switched paths, pushing Jiarong Technology to acquire 100% of Hangzhou Lanran for a transaction consideration of 1.35 billion yuan, while simultaneously raising 1 billion yuan through a private placement.

Buying assets and taking control are being advanced at the same time. Once the deal closes, Hu Dianjun will become the actual controller of the listed company Jiarong Technology.

Jiarong Technology will also upgrade to a "pressure-driven plus electro-driven" dual-membrane platform through the acquisition, entering tracks such as lithium extraction from salt lakes.

An Expanding Map

Under the leadership of Hu Dianjun's team, Puquan has rapidly rolled out its investment map.

It currently manages eight funds. The largest is the Fujian Times Zeyuan Carbon Neutrality Fund, with a total subscribed scale of about 10.1 billion yuan.

CATL contributed about 700 million yuan, leveraging state-owned capital such as the Ordos Development Fund, the Xiamen Industrial Guidance Fund, and the National Green Development Fund, as well as industrial capital such as Shell.

The fund lays out six directions including new energy, energy storage, semiconductors, and high-end manufacturing, directly investing in 16 projects.

In the Eacon project, the Zeyuan Fund has already achieved an exit, with an internal rate of return of 121.8% and a book exit amount of 338 million yuan.

Next is the Hainan Times Green Industry Fund, with a scale of 5 billion yuan, established in August 2026, planning to seek targets in Hainan's green zero-carbon industry.

Add Ruiyuan Times, with a scale of about 2.62 billion yuan, specializing in M&A and integration of listed companies. The newly established Shenyuan Venture Capital and Yiyuan Venture Capital mainly invest in fields such as artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, technology applications, and frontier technology.

According to calculations, Hu Dianjun and Puquan Capital manage a total fund scale of more than 28 billion yuan, and it is still growing.

It is worth noting that Puquan Capital is not CATL's only CVC platform.

"From strategic investment to financial investment, CATL's investment map has been expanding, and the existing system is already very complete," Cao Long commented. From the listed entity's own-fund investment (as a strategic investment platform), to early CVC investment (such as Chendao, etc.), to market-oriented CVC (such as Puquan), the "Battery King's" investment layout is very methodical.

Hu Dianjun's team can both support Zeng Yuqun's strategy and raise funds independently, seeking its own space and capturing opportunities beyond the battery industry chain.