Entrepreneurial Star | Hu Xinyi, Founder of Boonray Technology: From Fortune 500 Executive to Entrepreneurial Talent

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Alibaba Cloud launched the "Track Star Program."

Discovering and supporting more high-quality technology startups.

Empowering businesses and accelerating innovation.

Serving as a startup accelerator for the cloud ecosystem.

This episode features Hu Xinyi, student No. 46 from the Track Star Program.

In the early morning hours of Zhangjiang Artificial Intelligence Island, before the rush of office workers arrived, a buzzing sound echoed. A drone slowly took off from its hangar and flew toward the river. Approaching the riverbank, an unmanned boat was seen heading toward the drone's hovering position. A closer look revealed several plastic bottles floating on the surface of the river, which the boat cleared away upon arrival.

The park's property management explained that this was a routine river inspection on the island, a process conducted entirely without human intervention, relying solely on the coordination of machines. This same scenario is also used for campus inspections on the Smart Island. The park's cameras and smart trash cans are connected to security robots, cleaning robots, and other systems, all controlled by the park's brain. If a problem is detected, the appropriate robot is dispatched to address it.

This entire park intelligent dispatching system was built by Boonray Technology and was recently reviewed by Premier Li Keqiang. Boonray Technology founder and CEO Hu Xinyi stated that using technology to liberate human labor and benefit humanity is something he is willing to do for the rest of his life.

Zhejiang's cultural genes: a destined entrepreneurship

A native of Zhejiang, Hu Xinyi grew up surrounded by the stories of older generations of entrepreneurs who struggled to build their fortunes through hard work. This early on instilled in him two key goals in life: first, to create a business that would achieve financial independence and support a small workforce; and second, to create value and benefit more people.

Hu Xinyi has been fascinated by robotics since childhood, dreaming of a career related to robotics and intelligent systems. For this reason, he could have chosen the Computer Science Department in college, but because his mechanics professor suggested that undergraduates in the department could learn about robotics, he resolutely chose the Automation Department in the School of Mechanical Engineering.

Everything went according to plan. After graduating from the Michigan College at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Hu Xinyi studied abroad at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and Duke University in the United States, before pursuing an MBA at the China Europe International Business School.

After graduation, his life continued to follow his plan. He worked for world-renowned companies such as Bosch and Danaher, achieving success there and enjoying a life of "playing golf in my spare time."

While responsible for strategy at a Fortune 500 company, he also served as a strategic consultant to several private enterprises, gaining in-depth contact with many private entrepreneurs and being frequently moved by the entrepreneurial spirit of the older generation. Driven by passion and a clear plan, he resolutely resigned from his Fortune 500 job, gathered his friend, with whom he had "slept together" for four years at university, and began his own entrepreneurial journey.

Aiming to build a future global technology company that would benefit humanity through intelligent technology, he named the company Boonray, a self-made English word meaning "good news from technology."

Because of love, so persist

Since graduation, Hu Xinyi has been working in automation-related fields, from factory automation to construction machinery automation, and he enjoys it. "Automation leads to intelligence, and that's the direction of my entrepreneurial journey. Ultimately, we need to free up more manpower and improve overall societal efficiency, so that people have the time and energy to enjoy life beyond their means," he said.

Like all startups, Boonray Technology faced the same predicament of being completely broke in its early days. Initially, the company consisted of only five employees, most of whom were technical staff, each of whom held multiple roles. Hu Xinyi's initial capital came from his own savings.

With no products and no customers, survival was the primary challenge. To this end, he led his entire staff to work tirelessly, strengthening technological research and development to rapidly launch products while also actively exploring the market and seeking cooperative partners.

With a firm grasp of the industry and precise market positioning, the company successfully commercialized its comprehensive drone intelligent application system just one year after its founding and secured angel round funding.

Ensure safety and increase efficiency, and find urgent needs in difficult situations

Although Boonray Technology originated in the metropolis of Shanghai, the working conditions in its business implementation have been challenging, Hu Xinyi lamented. "We don't want high-tech to become a mere spectacle; we want to address real, pressing needs." Boonray Technology's current commercial applications are primarily in remote locations like mines and photovoltaic power plants, with deep deployments in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Qinghai being common.

"We once witnessed a mining dump truck reverse overboard while unloading due to human error, nearly plunging the truck and its crew into a 10-meter-deep unloading pit!" Hu Xinyi recalls an accident she encountered during a field trip to a mine. Drivers often work for hours at a time, and fatigue is inevitable. Therefore, in mines where accidents are common, replacing humans with machines to achieve reduced- or even unmanned operations has become a hot topic.

Incomplete statistics show that my country suffers direct and indirect losses of 25 billion yuan annually from various mining accidents and occupational diseases, with cumulative losses exceeding 100 billion yuan since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Furthermore, the mining industry is plagued by difficulties recruiting workers and rising recruitment costs. Two years ago, Boonray Technology began experimenting with autonomous mining trucks at a mine in Henan Province.

To date, Boonray Technology has successfully transformed over 30 mining trucks into "unmanned mining trucks," enabling them to form a fleet and coordinate with each other. These "unmanned mining trucks" can also work with unmanned excavators developed simultaneously to automatically coordinate excavation and transportation operations, completely freeing operators from dangerous worksites. Boonray Technology's solution has undoubtedly opened a new door for mining companies to achieve safe operations.

Beyond the mining sector, Boonray Technology has also solved a range of problems in the operation and maintenance of photovoltaic power plants. As of 2018, my country had approximately 180GW of photovoltaic power plants, with annual operation and maintenance costs reaching tens of billions of yuan. Traditional manual inspections are extremely inefficient due to the large inspection areas and varied terrain. Boonray Technology's intelligent photovoltaic inspection system utilizes drones to conduct batch inspections from a bird's-eye view, achieving 10 times the efficiency of manual inspections.

Partnering with Alibaba to expand smart city business

"At this stage, we're first honing our technology and products in scenarios with low population density and low work commitment. Once the technology is stable and reliable, we'll expand it horizontally to more populated scenarios, such as industrial parks and cities, through our platform," Hu Xinyi outlined her business vision.

Boonray Technology has been a Platinum-level partner of Alibaba Smart City since 2018, jointly developing smart city solutions. The two parties have already collaborated on multiple projects in locations like Hangzhou Future Science and Technology City and Wuzhi, Henan. Speaking about their plans in this area, Hu Xinyi said, "In industrial parks and cities, the demand for product intelligence is even higher. At this stage, we're conducting preliminary explorations through partnerships with giants like Alibaba. In these scenarios, our focus isn't just on freeing up manpower, but also on how to make smart technology truly impact people's lives."

On June 25, 2019, the finals of the 2019 Future Sci-Tech City Smart City Construction Partner Competition, hosted by Alibaba, were held in Dream Town, Future Sci-Tech City, Hangzhou. After several rounds of fierce competition, 10 technology companies, including Boonray Technology, emerged from 144 participating companies to become VIP partners of Future Sci-Tech City and honorary partners of the Alibaba Cloud IOT City IoT Platform.

At the same time, Hu Xinyi also registered and passed the interview for the second cohort of the "Track Star Class," becoming a member (student number 46). Through the Track Star Class, Hu Xinyi not only met elite founders from various tracks but also forged deeper connections with various business lines within Alibaba Group and renowned investment institutions.

Striving to be a technology leader, the future is more worth looking forward to

Today, leveraging a well-established patent management system and substantial technological expertise, Boonray Technology has established strategic partnerships with numerous technology companies. In 2017, it was recognized as a National High-Tech Enterprise and one of China's Top 50 Most Valuable Enterprises for Investment, among other honors.

As for the future, perhaps the keynote on a single image on Boonray's official website offers some insight: Boonray Technology is a global leader in ubiquitous robotics. "Ubiquitous robotics means robots are everywhere. We aim to use robotics technology to empower various mechanical devices, enabling them to operate intelligently," explains Hu Xinyi, explaining the concept of "ubiquitous robotics."

To date, Boonray Technology has served over 200 clients, achieved sales revenue of nearly 100 million yuan, and established multiple industry benchmarks. Hu Xinyi believes that 5G's most suitable application scenarios lie in inherently mobile smart devices like drones and drone cars. With the development of 5G networks, the comprehensive intelligence of machines has a better foundation, and Boonray Technology's golden age is approaching.

About the Ali Track Star Class

The Track Star Program is an innovation and entrepreneurship accelerator within the Alibaba ecosystem, covering high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, chips, cloud technology, and big data, focusing on 14 industries, including new retail, new finance, smart manufacturing, smart education, smart healthcare, enterprise services, and mobile office. Leveraging Alibaba's infrastructure and ecosystem resources, the Track Star Program is committed to helping startups achieve industry success with a high starting point and low costs.

Since its launch in August 2018, the Track Star Program has successfully held three sessions, connecting over 100 entrepreneurs with over 60 business lines, including Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, DAMO Academy, Pingtou Ge, Taobao, Tmall, Ant, DingTalk, and AutoNavi. This has resulted in over 1,000 business collaborations, accumulating over 130 media coverage, nearly 200 investors participating, 56 investments, and a doubling of valuations to 71.8 billion yuan.

The fourth session of the Track Star Program is expected to launch soon. Leave a message or scan the QR code below for more information!