According to public information, Leekr Technology had completed Series D financing round recently , bringing its total fundraising over four years to more than 3 billion RMB and elevating the company to unicorn status.
Four years ago, Leekr Technology launched in Shanghai with a team of just 22 people. Since then, it has expanded to more than 500 employees, built partnerships with more than 15 leading domestic and international automakers, secured more than 50 mass-production programs, and achieved a three-year compound annual growth rate exceeding 300%.
In a recent interview with Fortune China, founder Hui Zhifeng discussed how the company managed to carve out space—and build a moat—in one of the most traditional and conservative segments of the automotive industry.
A counterintuitive insight
In 2021, as the auto industry accelerated toward electrification and intelligent systems, many suppliers focused on developing ESC (Electronic Stability Control) products—technologies with shorter research and development cycles and faster monetization. Industry consensus held that One-box (integrated brake-by-wire) systems were technically complex, difficult to commercialize at scale, and perhaps ahead of their time.
Zhifeng made a different call. He committed the company’s full resources to the One-box pathway. “Difficulty creates barriers,” he says.
At the time, braking and steering—the most safety-critical systems in a vehicle—were dominated by a handful of global giants. “If we had gone into ESC products, we would have been competing head-on with established multinational suppliers,” says Zhifeng. “As a startup, we would have had no advantage in talent, supply chain depth, or cost structure.”
Drawing on earlier experience at a top-tier global components company, Zhifeng anticipated that electrification and intelligentization would fundamentally reshape chassis architecture. Highly integrated drive-by-wire chassis systems, he believed, would become the industry’s next inflection point—and One-box braking technology offered the most strategic entry.
In his view, imitation and price competition rarely create defensible advantages in the auto supply chain. One-box systems, however, addressed two urgent challenges simultaneously: active safety and range anxiety. By integrating braking, ESC functionality, advanced driver-assistance execution, and regenerative braking into a single unit, the system delivers efficiencies particularly suited to electric and intelligent vehicles.
As electrification and intelligentization reshaped global supply chains, longstanding procurement hierarchies began to loosen. Automakers, seeking greater delivery resilience, became more open to alternative suppliers. “The previously rigid supplier landscape was starting to shift,” Zhifeng says. “OEMs wanted more flexibility in their supply chains, and that gave emerging companies like ours a window to get onto the vehicle platform.”
“The previously rigid supplier landscape was starting to shift,” Zhifeng says.
To capitalize on that opportunity, the company concentrated relentlessly on product execution—bench testing, extreme climate validation across multiple summers and winters, and small-batch production runs.
When vehicles equipped with Leekr’s systems accumulated hundreds of thousands of kilometers in stable operation, matching the performance of established international competitors, customer attitudes shifted. Product validation in 2023 and 2024 laid the groundwork; 2025 brought a surge in orders.
To date, Leekr’s One-box system, IHB-LK®, has secured more than 50 mass-production programs with automakers including Chery, FAW, Seres, GAC, and Geely.
“Now, the question isn’t where the orders are,” Zhifeng says. “It’s how fast we can scale capacity and guarantee delivery.”
He attributes this shift to a flywheel effect: manufacturing experience drives cost advantages, which attract orders and investment, which in turn reinforce scale.
Blending Eastern philosophy with a ‘Day One’ mindset
At the company entrance, the phrase “Keep Day 1” greets employees—a reminder to retain the urgency and discipline of a startup. In Zhifeng’s office hangs another inscription: Yuan Heng Li Zhen, drawn from the I Ching. The phrase evokes beginnings, progress, appropriateness, and steadfastness—a philosophy of acting in alignment with circumstance while growing steadily.
Zhifeng explains that the company name Leekr is a homophone for the Chinese word meaning “immediately.” To preserve the clarity, sharpness, and drive of its early startup days as the company grows, the firm promotes a “Keep Day 1” philosophy internally, reminding employees to retain the mindset of a company just getting started.
“We pursue fast growth—but rational, risk-controlled growth,” says Zhifeng. “Think of braking systems. Faster isn’t always better. If a brake is too abrupt, inertia throws you forward. A good braking system stops you quickly—but smoothly.”
That respect for physical principles, he says, also informs company management. Employees are offered clear incentive structures and career paths. Resource allocation relies on cross-functional coordination and disciplined prioritization. The blend of traditional pragmatism and modern startup ethos, he argues, has enabled Leekr to iterate quickly without losing operational stability.
The company follows a product cadence it describes as “one generation in production, one in development, one in pre-research.” Its R&D pipeline now includes electromechanical braking (EMB) and steer-by-wire (SBW) systems designed for higher levels of autonomous driving, both nearing commercialization.
“In the era of EVs and autonomy, drive-by-wire chassis systems are no longer optional—they’re foundational,” Zhifeng says.
Staying strategic amid expansion
Hui Zhifeng argues that the greatest challenge is not resource scarcity but maintaining strategic discipline amid opportunity.
Looking ahead, Leekr plans to follow Chinese premium brands into the European Union, aiming to establish technological credibility. In Southeast Asia, it sees growth potential driven by cost-performance advantages and responsiveness. In the U.S., the company is exploring collaborations with Silicon Valley firms on Level 4 and above autonomous driving technologies.
Leekr has evolved from a core component supplier into a system integrator offering complete drive-by-wire chassis solutions. “The Chinese auto industry is leading global transformation,” Hui Zhifeng says. “We hope to leave our mark in one of its most critical and technically demanding domains.”