About Empower Investment
Empower Investment is a venture capital firm founded in 2012. It is primarily based out of Shanghai, China. As of Jan 2023, Empower Investment has invested in 91 companies. It primarily invests in Series A round in China based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from High Tech to Consumer and Enterprise Applications. Most recently it participated in the $***** Angel round of Jushu Biotechnology Overall, Empower Investment portfolio has seen 1 unicorn, 2 IPOs and 4 acquisitions including key companies like Trumid, Milkbasket and DeepGlint. A lot of funds co-invest with Empower Investment, with names like Brijesh Damodaran sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Empower Investment has team of 9 people including 5 partners.Key Metrics
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 3 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Unicorns
Portfolio Soonicorns
Empower Investment's List of Top Investments
Empower Investment has a portfolio of 91 companies, one of which is a Unicorn. Their most notable investments are in SideChef and Wuhan Cooper Technology.Their portfolio spans across China, United States, India and 2 more locations. They have invested in High Tech, Consumer, Enterprise Applications and 28 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 3 more. Here is the list of top investments by Empower Investment:1. Trumid
TruMid is a trading platform focused on fixed-income securities and corporate bonds. It features Market Center 2.0 for the electronic bond trading platform that provides traders access to liquidity. Its features are protocol flexibility, APIs for market data & order management, and more.
Key facts about Trumid
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: New York City (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series E
- Total Funding till date: $722M
- Employee Count: 189 as on Mar 31, 2026
- Investors: BlackRock, Dragoneer Investment Group and 22 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series E, Oct 12, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
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2. Milkbasket
MilkBasket is an online subscription-based platform offering daily grocery needs. The product catalog includes fruits, vegetables, milk, bread, eggs, yogurts, and more. The company provides delivery service in Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, and more. The mobile application is available for Android and iOS users.
Key facts about Milkbasket
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Gurugram (India)
- Annual Revenue: ₹62.6Cr as on Mar 31, 2025
- Last Known Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $35.1M
- Employee Count: 230 as on May 31, 2025
- Investors: Innoven Capital, Navi and 58 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Mar 11, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
3. DeepGlint
Deep Glint is a computer vision startup providing 3D image analysis and pattern recognition technologies which can be used for surveillance, traffic control, and retail customer analysis. They provide automatic human behavior and trajectory analysis solutions to banks and shopping centers.
Key facts about DeepGlint
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: Haidian (China)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $5M
- Employee Count: 75 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Sequoia Capital, blogtuntun.xyz and 9 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Mar 13, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Public
4. StandardAero
Company is providing aviation MRO services. It is one of the aerospace industry’s largest independent maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) providers. It offers customised solutions for business aviation, commercial aviation, military, and industrial power customers. It services include MRO for aircraft and rotorcraft engines, auxiliary power units, components
Key facts about StandardAero
- Founded Year: 1911
- Location: Scottsdale (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $6.06B as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Employee Count: 4,630 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: The Carlyle Group, Empower Investment and 2 Others
- Highlight: Public
Hyperloop One (previously known as Hyperloop Technologies) is developing the technology and hardware to make Hyperloop a reality. They design, build and test Hyperloop as suggested by Elon Musk. Successfully tested a propulsion prototype in May 2016. Plans to start with goods transport. Plan to have a fully operational model by 2020.
Key facts about Hyperloop One
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Los Angeles (United States)
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $578M
- Employee Count: 283 as on Dec 31, 2020
- Investors: Western Technology Investment, Tech 1 Partners and 50 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, May 13, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Empower Investment's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Empower Investment has invested in 91 companies over the last 14 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Jushu Biotechnology and most recent follow-on round was in JC House.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2021 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2018 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2017 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Empower Investment's Investments by Stage
Empower Investment has made 8 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $2.31M, 5 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $5.75M, 3 investments in Angel stage with an average round size of $4.47M, 3 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $17M and 2 investments in Series C stage with an average round size of $14.2M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 8 |
Series A | 5 |
Angel | 3 |
Series B | 3 |
Series C | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Empower Investment's Investments by Sector
Empower Investment has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Consumer, FinTech and Life Sciences. Notably, it has invested in 59 Tech companies, 37 Consumer (B2C) companies, 36 Enterprise (B2B) companies and at least 30 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 5 |
High Tech | 5 |
Consumer | 3 |
FinTech | 3 |
Life Sciences | 3 |
Others | 22 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Empower Investment's Investments by Geography
Empower Investment has made most investments in China (18), followed by United States where it has made 2 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
China | 18 |
United States | 2 |
India | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Empower Investment's recent investments
Empower Investment has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Empower Investment:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 13, 2023 | China | Angel | 2646 | [+1] | |
Sep 19, 2022 | China | Seed | 3840 | [+1] | |
Nov 03, 2021 | China | Series C | 4064 | ||
Sep 10, 2021 | China | Series A | 6430 | - | |
Jun 21, 2021 | China | Series B | 8460 |
Unicorns in Empower Investment's Portfolio
Empower Investment has 1 unicorn in its portfolio - Trumid. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Trumid which became a unicorn in 2020, 5 years before Empower Investment first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Empower Investment's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
64 | Trading platform focused on fixed-income securities and corporate bonds | 2014 | New York City | Series E | xiiiiwy |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Empower Investment's Portfolio
2 of Empower Investment's portfolio companies have become public. StandardAero got listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in Oct 2024 at marketcap of $8.03B and DeepGlint got listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) at marketcap of $15.3M.Here are Empower Investment's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 02, 2024 | - | - | 4254 | |
Mar 17, 2022 | - | - | 8024 |
Acquired companies in Empower Investment's Portfolio
4 companies from Empower Investment's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Milkbasket in Aug 2021 by Reliance Industries for $*****.Here are Empower Investment's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 23, 2021 | Dec 2016 | Seed | 1587 | |
Aug 12, 2020 | - | - | 4882 | |
Apr 30, 2019 | - | - | 7449 | |
Mar 25, 2013 | - | - | 4393 |
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Team profile of Empower Investment
Empower Investment has a team of 9 members including 5 Partners and 1 Principal located in China. Empower Investment's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in Empower Investment:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Shanghai | - | ||
Partner | Shanghai | - | ||
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | Huangpu | - | - | |
Principal | Shanghai | - |
Co-investors of Empower Investment
Over the past 14 years, 98 investors have co-invested in Empower Investment's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Empower Investment: Draphant, Evergrowth Investments and 25 others have invested in rounds before Empower Investment. There is 1 company where Draphant has invested before Empower Investment and 1 company where Evergrowth Investments has invested before Empower Investment.
- Top Co-investors of Empower Investment: 27 investors entered a company along with Empower Investment. These include investors like Brijesh Damodaran (1 company).
- Invested after Empower Investment: A total of 44 investors have invested in Empower Investment's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Baidu Ventures (2 companies), Unilever Ventures (1 company) and Mayfield (1 company).
Recent News related to Empower Investment
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Nishii Technology Co., Ltd., a developer of brain neural simulation chips, has won a new round of financingPEdaily•Apr 15, 2020•Senry Batt, Inspur, Empower Investment, Hegao Capital and 1 other
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Westwell snags $14m and more updatesDeal Street Asia•Apr 15, 2020•West Well Labs, Fosun, Fosun·Star Future Capital, Anxin Securities and 3 others
