SureStar

About SureStar

Surestar, officially known as Beijing Beike Tianhui Technology Co., Ltd., is a specialized developer and manufacturer of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) hardware. Established in 2005 by individuals returning to China after studying abroad, the company was founded to address the domestic gap in自主研发 a market then dominated by costly foreign imports. The founding team, including CEO Zhang Zhiwu (Jane Zhang) and CTO Zhang Keshu (Darsi Zhang), leveraged their prior experience to pioneer local LiDAR development. Zhang Keshu had previously been involved with projects for NASA and DARPA and worked at semiconductor and electronics solutions provider K&S, while Zhang Zhiwu earned a Ph.D. from the University of Guelph.

The company operates by designing, manufacturing, and selling LiDAR products, reinvesting profits and capital from funding rounds into research and development, scaling production, and expanding its talent pool. Surestar serves two primary market segments: digital twin applications and intelligent mobility. Its initial focus was on high-precision mapping LiDAR for clients in sectors like power line inspection, railway monitoring, and geographical surveying. In 2014, the company expanded its scope to include the automotive sector, targeting the growing demand for autonomous vehicle technology. Surestar's business model involves providing both standardized hardware and customized solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers.

Surestar offers a comprehensive product portfolio that includes both mapping and navigation LiDAR systems. Their mapping solutions feature airborne, mobile, and terrestrial laser scanners, such as the lightweight "Genius" and "Skylark" systems for UAVs and the "A-Pilot" for airborne applications. For the automotive and robotics industries, the company provides navigation and obstacle avoidance LiDAR, including the mechanical R-Fans series and the semi-solid-state C-Fans series. A key technical differentiator is the company's early investment in developing its own LiDAR Signal Processing (LSP) chips, which allows for smaller, lighter, and more power-efficient products. This in-house chip development and use of semiconductor assembly processes provides a significant cost advantage over competitors.

Significant milestones for the company include launching China's first automotive LiDAR on May 11, 2016. In August 2017, the Chinese Society for Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation authorized Surestar to establish the country's first public LiDAR Test and Evaluation Center. The company has also secured several rounds of funding, including a Series A round from Lenovo Star, an A+ round exceeding 100 million RMB in 2018 led by Yunhui Capital and StarVC, and a 180 million RMB investment in a B round led by Huiyou Capital in 2023.