AI-Powered Leisure Boating: Shanghai TONJO Secures Tens of Millions in Seed Funding

Smart boat company TONJO recently announced the completion of tens of millions of RMB in seed funding. This round was co-led by Inno Angel Fund and Wuzhong Financial Holdings, with participation from Jiangsu Jinqiao Fund.

Founded in June 2025 and headquartered in Shanghai, TONJO focuses on empowering the maritime industry with AI technology, specifically targeting the leisure yacht segment. Leveraging core technologies such as multimodal vision-language models (VLM), AI, edge computing, and ship-shore collaboration, the company has developed flagship products including the AegisNav intelligent navigation engine and the ShipMate X captain agent, providing innovative solutions for smart shipping.

TONJO's team background is as follows:

• Founder Zhang Chenglun: Over a decade of experience in automotive autonomous driving, former head of Huawei's commercial vehicle solutions division, and entrepreneurial experience in a mining autonomous driving company;
• Chief Scientist: PhD and postdoc in AI from the University of Connecticut, former head of perception and prediction at an autonomous driving unicorn;
• VP of Intelligent Navigation Technology: Master's in AI from Université Paris-Saclay, former algorithm scientist at Intel, senior researcher at UISEE, and head of planning and control at Zhituo Technology;
• Business Partner: 12 years of experience with Huawei key accounts and 10 years of European market expansion, former head of Huawei's global key account system department and digital energy sales director.

Founder Zhang Chenglun said: "Our team comes from the smart car industry, with nearly 10 years of experience in smart cars, from cockpits to autonomous driving. We saw that automotive intelligence technology has become very mature, so when we looked at boats, we realized there is huge room for intelligent upgrades. That was our original intention."

Above: TONJO full-cabin intelligence and AI fish finder system

He shared that there are about 35 million leisure boats globally, with traditional operation methods and sailing experiences, and intelligence levels far below land transportation—"The leisure boat market is large enough, easy to standardize, and has a to-C nature. If the product delivers value, customers are willing to pay."

Additionally, for many leisure boat users, high-frequency operation scenarios such as docking, obstacle avoidance, and fish school detection have high usage thresholds and operational risks. Traditional fish-finding tools and radar perception hardware have long been dominated by overseas brands like Garmin and Navico, with relatively fixed product forms and iteration methods, leaving clear room for new technology approaches.

In its early stage, the company primarily provides solutions to leisure boat manufacturers, OEMs, or users. The product line fully covers both the front-end and aftermarket:

• One category involves cockpit or autonomous driving related to boats, similar to automotive solutions and business models;
• The other uses AI algorithm models to provide clearer fish species identification results or enhance detection capabilities for distant objects without adding or reducing hardware.

Zhang Chenglun revealed that the company's products have begun commercial deployment. By the end of July or early August, they will deliver an order for a luxury yacht smart cockpit solution. Meanwhile, the company is jointly developing a standardized smart yacht with an early domestic peer, securing orders for over 500 units with a total value exceeding 100 million RMB. The company also plans to collaborate with top European clients.

Above: TONJO unmanned navigation and energy control system

In June, TONJO signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Suzhou Hanyuan Yacht Club, unveiling the "AI+Yacht" Water Leisure Living Demonstration Application Base on Taihu Lake. The establishment of this base allows TONJO's intelligent navigation system to move from the lab environment to real water testing and iteration.

Suzhou Giant Sequoia Science and Technology Group, as an early investor, participated in this round of financing and incubation, introducing TONJO to Suzhou, which has abundant water resources, to expand application scenarios. The funds will also be used to expand the core R&D and production team, as well as for initial work on overseas brand building and channel development.

Above: "AI+Yacht" Water Leisure Living Demonstration Application Base

This round's investor Inno Angel Fund, founded in April 2013, manages billions of RMB and has invested in over 500 innovative projects, including lifestyle platform Meituan, autonomous driving company WeRide, and Zhixingzhe.

Above: Partial investment portfolio of Inno Angel Fund

This round's investor Wuzhong Financial Holdings is the only state-owned equity investment platform in Wuzhong District, Suzhou, with a vast investment portfolio centered on a fund-of-funds (FOF) plus direct investment model. As of early 2026, the group has initiated, managed, and participated in 77 funds, with a total scale exceeding 56 billion RMB, and has invested in over 600 companies.

| Source: Giant Sequoia Science and Technology Group official WeChat account, Inno Angel Fund official website

| Image source: TONJO official WeChat account