Just today, Goky Technologies rang the bell for its listing.
This professor-led project, which started in Jilin and took root in Changzhou, has finally stepped onto the capital market stage.
As of writing, Goky Technologies opened up 240% and currently boasts a market capitalization exceeding 25 billion yuan.
The story behind the opening surge is one of a thirteen-year technological marathon reaching its harvest period, and another tale of Changzhou, Jiangsu—this manufacturing hub—birthing yet another unicorn.
From Jilin University's Lectern to Changzhou's Factory Floor
Rewind to 2013. At that time, Liu Jianfang, 38, was a professor and doctoral supervisor at Jilin University, having stood at the lectern for many years. But that year, he made a decision that seemed quite risky at the time: taking several graduate students and leaving the familiar campus to turn two decades of accumulated piezoelectric drive technology into a real company.
Research on piezoelectric drive technology at Jilin University can be traced back to the direction pioneered by his mentor, Professor Yang Zhigang, in 1992.
In 2002, Liu Jianfang enrolled at Jilin University for his doctorate, following this lineage and delving deeply into the then-almost-untouched niche fields of piezoelectric precision drive and precision fluid control in China.
During his doctoral studies, he specifically went to Yamagata University in Japan for a year of visiting research, systematically studying cutting-edge methods in piezoelectric drive and control under experts in mechanical structures, Watanabe Katsumi, and vibration analysis and control, Suzuki Katsuyoshi. In 2005, he obtained his Doctor of Engineering degree and stayed to teach at Jilin University, rising from lecturer to associate professor and professor. During this time, he also led teams to undertake several national-level Class A research projects.
Choosing to dive into entrepreneurship was definitely a minority path in Jilin at the time.
Back then, the market atmosphere for commercializing knowledge achievements wasn't strong. Professors within universities preferred to stay rooted on campus, retaining stable and respectable jobs.
The real move to "bring the technology out" of the lab was that decision in 2013.
That year, Liu Jianfang, along with several parties including Mingsai Zhixin, Bai Junjie, and Zhibang Technology, jointly invested to register a company in Wujin, Changzhou. This was the predecessor of Goky Technologies.
The startup capital was only 2 million yuan. In the capital-intensive, long-cycle precision manufacturing industry, this amount could be considered "starting from scratch."
In fact, choosing the direction of precision fluid control wasn't particularly advantageous. At the time, piezoelectric jet dispensing technology and products were almost entirely monopolized by foreign brands. The domestic market was a blank slate, with even industry standards set by others. But Liu Jianfang saw precisely this blankness—where no one was doing it, there was an opportunity to be the first.
The early days of entrepreneurship weren't glamorous.
Liu Jianfang later admitted in an industry exchange that when the team came out from academia, they were complete "newbies"—lacking experience in managing an enterprise and not adept at handling business relationships. Moreover, starting a business in Changzhou meant struggling against the talent siphoning effect of first-tier megacities; recruiting and retaining talent required more effort than elsewhere.
But this teacher-student team had its own approach: not following trends or the crowd, relying on solid technical foundation and differentiated products to gradually stand firm in the fiercely competitive market.
Piezoelectric jet dispensing technology itself has a high barrier to entry, requiring interdisciplinary research across materials, mechanics, and control—difficulties like electrical control technology for piezoelectric ceramics, packaging pre-stressing, charge/discharge control, temperature control, and high-frequency mechanical fatigue. Each was a hard nut to crack.
After the team conquered these technologies, they pioneered the domestic launch of a Chinese-made piezoelectric jet solution, enabling batch dispensing operations. This not only extended service life but also brought costs down. Through repeated verification, they pushed the industry's jetting lifespan standard from its original level all the way up to 1 billion cycles. This number was later gradually adopted by peers, becoming the new industry benchmark.
The company also quietly underwent a transformation during this process.
Evolving from an initial small workshop focused on "single product, single industry" dispensing and packaging, it gradually expanded into fields like new energy precision coating and semiconductor equipment fluid control, growing into today's technology platform company covering three core series: flow control, dispensing and packaging, and precision coating.
The Report Card After Thirteen Years
Numbers best illustrate how fast this marathon has been run.
The prospectus shows that from 2022 to 2024, Goky Technologies' operating revenue was 165 million yuan, 226 million yuan, and 423 million yuan respectively, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 60%. In the first half of 2025, revenue reached 242 million yuan. The curve for net profit attributable to the parent company is even steeper—rising from 15.3972 million yuan in 2022 to 99.7604 million yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 276.6%, and achieving 54.4191 million yuan in the first half of 2025.
Supporting this growth curve were several tangible technological breakthroughs.
In 2021, Goky independently developed China's first semiconductor-grade piezoelectric MFC (Mass Flow Controller), breaking the long-term monopoly of overseas manufacturers like Horiba, MKS, and Brooks in the domestic semiconductor etching and deposition equipment market—against the backdrop of uncertainties in semiconductor equipment exports involving China, the US, Japan, and the Netherlands, such domestic substitution capabilities appear particularly crucial.
Currently, some models of the company's flow control products have been batch-applied in front-end equipment for 7nm and below logic chips, can be adapted for 5nm etching machines, and cover core wafer manufacturing processes like etching, thin-film deposition, cleaning, and ion implantation.
The customer list also speaks to market recognition: consumer electronics giants like Luxshare Precision, Foxconn, AAC Technologies, and Goertek are old friends, with products covering the Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi supply chains; CATL, BYD, and JinkoSolar have brought it into the power battery and photovoltaic tracks. The company is also currently expanding into new areas like automotive white bodies.
The capital market sensed the opportunity early.
In 2016, Goky Technologies completed its first round of financing. The one choosing to bet at the angel round was Zhiyuan Venture Capital.
Subsequently, industrial automation leader Inovance Capital, Shenzhen industry-based capital Zhengdao Investment, as well as leading investors like Walden International and China IC Venture Capital, placed their bets.
Among them, the most notable investment is from Xinhui Venture Capital—a wholly-owned subsidiary of Changzhou Investment Group Co., Ltd.
Behind this funding is Changzhou's support and assistance for local enterprises.
Changzhou Wujin:
A Soil That Continually Breeds Unicorns
Goky's headquarters remain in the Goky Building in Wujin District's Science and Education City, Changzhou, not far from its first workshop when it started. This is no accident, but something Changzhou has been doing consistently over the years: retaining technology-based entrepreneurs and accompanying them throughout the entire journey.
Viewed within the whole of Jiangsu, the output efficiency of this soil is quite astonishing.
In 2025, Jiangsu led the national capital market with 46 listed companies, far exceeding Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces in number. That same year, the total number of potential unicorn enterprises in Jiangsu surpassed 200 for the first time, making it the only province in the country to cross this threshold, with the number of new additions also ranking first nationally.
Although Changzhou's scale is smaller than Suzhou and Nanjing, it still holds a place on the unicorn list—in 2025, Changzhou had 8 selected unicorn enterprises, 7 of which were from the new energy sector, with the two new additions both coming from Liyang; Changzhou had 13 potential unicorn enterprises, ranking 12th among national cities. Behind these numbers lies a whole set of industrial cultivation logic, from "seedlings" to "towering trees."
Wujin National Hi-Tech District is the most fertile piece of this soil. This park, covering about 64 square kilometers, gathers tens of thousands of enterprises and has cumulatively cultivated over a hundred unicorns, potential unicorns, and gazelle enterprises.
Going back to 2013 when Goky Technologies was established, it was precisely a talent project introduced under the fifth batch of Wujin District's "Longcheng Talent Plan," enabling Goky to receive 2 million yuan in government support funds.
The Wujin District official website shows that in recent years, the district has cumulatively introduced 1,748 leading entrepreneurial talent projects, selected over 500 provincial-level or above talent projects, successfully incubated 5 listed companies, 9 listed on the New Third Board (NEEQ), and 43 included in the "Longteng Plan" listing reserve pool. Goky Technology's successful IPO approval on the STAR Market is both the result of the company's long-term R&D investment and technological沉淀, and a concrete答卷 of Wujin's continuous efforts to create an environment that "tethers hearts and retains talent," turning talent projects into industrial增量.
In recent years, Wujin launched the city's first "open-door power connection" demonstration zone and also introduced the province's first policy where the government and power companies share the costs of external access lines, specifically to save costs and抢 time for major projects.
Such seemingly minor details are often the most practical pain points for precision manufacturing enterprises during expansion.
At the Changzhou city level, a set of mechanisms called the "835 Project" for cultivating listing reserve enterprises is also operating: over 800 enterprises in the pool, rolling replenishment of 300 enterprises undergoing shareholding reform, and consistently maintaining around 50 enterprises under guidance and filing. This is配合with a "1+1+6" service system (one work coordination mechanism, one capital market要素platform, plus six key projects:入库cultivation, compliance strengthening, fund empowerment, talent introduction and cultivation, cooperation and linkage, and enterprise cultivation and excellence), breaking down departmental barriers to ensure enterprises have guidance throughout the entire journey from入库cultivation to最终ringing the bell.
In the "Several Policies on Further Supporting Enterprise Innovation and Development" issued by the Changzhou Municipal Government, for technological transformation projects with equipment and software investments exceeding 100 million yuan, special fund support is given up to 10%, with a maximum of 10 million yuan per project; for projects in foundational areas like basic components and materials ("Five Basics"), the support ratio can reach up to 15%—this kind of real financial support often benefits precision manufacturing enterprises most directly.
From that 2 million yuan startup capital in 2013 to the moment of ringing the bell on the STAR Market in 2026, Liu Jianfang and his team walked for thirteen years.
And during these thirteen years, Changzhou has also been growing simultaneously. Relying on a solid industrial cultivation system, it has gradually sent one technology-based enterprise after another, like Goky, from an idea in the lab, onto the stage of the capital market.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Rongzhong Finance" (ID: thecapital), author: Abu, editor: Wuren
