In the current "capital winter" facing the new energy industry, SNE (Zhejiang Xingchen Xinneng Technology Co., Ltd.), founded just four years ago, has broken through the downturn to emerge as a dark horse in the energy storage sector this year. The company operates in an emerging technological branch of the energy storage industry—flow batteries for long-duration energy storage.
Liu Na is the founder of SNE. This marks her first media interview, where she shares this "atypical" entrepreneurial story with the public.
The Finance Professional Behind a Stellar Shareholder Lineup
For a considerable time, SNE's most prominent label has been its "stellar shareholder lineup"—its initial financing round attracted investments from heavyweights including CNPC, State Power Investment Corporation Industrial Fund, Minmetals Capital, CRRC Capital, CAS Venture Capital, and the Changzhou Industrial Fund.
Unlike most entrepreneurs in the new energy sector who excel at narrating stories of technological innovation, Liu Na's background is particularly distinctive. Before founding SNE, she was a finance professional. Prior to turning 30, she had already established a private equity firm focusing on investment and mergers & acquisitions in the hard technology sector. Her decision to embark on an entrepreneurial path stemmed from the cyclical adjustments in the financial industry; she chose not to "coast." Her choice of new energy was driven by its status as one of the few industries still committing to continuous R&D investment, coupled with its immense market scale.
She started her venture almost from scratch, learning and adapting along the way. Yet, her methodology retains a distinct investor's perspective—a focus on resource valuation. Deeply versed in cost-benefit analysis, her approach, from selecting technology roadmaps to managing factory operations, is consistently reverse-engineered from cost and price targets.
The "Tough" Logic of Reverse-Engineering Everything Based on Cost
In the first two years of the venture, Liu Na did not pursue an "all-encompassing" range of technologies and products. Instead, she maintained an unwavering focus on cost.
In 2022, the unit cost of all-vanadium flow batteries was approximately RMB 4/Wh. Internally, Liu Na proposed to "cut it in half." This target was far beyond the industry's prevailing understanding at the time. Nevertheless, she genuinely treated it as a core objective, breaking it down and driving its execution. This goal was ultimately achieved, leading to SNE's new ambition to once again "halve the cost."
Chen Peiyi, Co-founder of SNE, revealed, "Within about three years, the cost of all-vanadium flow batteries is expected to fall below RMB 1.5/Wh, potentially bringing the levelized cost of energy over the full lifecycle roughly on par with lithium-ion batteries." The team's ultimate target is to drive the cost below RMB 1/Wh.
Liu Na admits to lacking a deep technical background, but she firmly believes that only by lowering product prices can the industry achieve scale. She describes her entrepreneurial approach as employing "simple, dogged methods"—investing substantial time and money to refine the team and learning expensive lessons. "Before securing external financing, all the funds we burned were my own, estimated at around RMB 60 million."
In 2023, SNE established a project base in Changzhou with a total planned production capacity of 4GW. During the same period, other flow battery companies had yet to reach the shipment stage. With costs rapidly compressed, Liu Na announced price reductions at frequent intervals, earning her the reputation of an industry "public enemy" within the sector.
During that challenging period, she took on roles across all front-line positions, handling everything personally. "When no one believes in you, you have to find your own market and personally seek out clients," she recalled.
A "Nomadic" Entrepreneurial Journey
Liu Na is known for her "tough" decision-making. In pursuit of optimal resource allocation, the company relocated its base three times in four years: Beijing, Changsha, Changzhou, and finally to Shaoxing, Zhejiang. She describes her team as akin to "nomads," constantly seeking the most fertile pastures.
In 2021, to facilitate technology R&D, she established the laboratory in Changsha. In 2022, the company moved to Changzhou, drawn by its robust supply chain, leading to significant cost reductions. In 2023, seeking more favorable policy support, the new base was established in Shaoxing, occupying a sprawling 100,000 square meters.
Liu Na has a unique "mountain climbing theory": the path chosen matters less than the speed of reaching the summit. Only from a vantage point can one access greater resources and pivot at minimal cost.
From "Outsider" to "Tenacious Striver"
Becoming a factory manager was something Liu Na herself never anticipated.
Integrating manufacturing operations introduced persistent friction within the team. Some employees secretly mocked her as an "outsider." Nevertheless, managing a factory for the first time, she had to persevere through trial and error. Her management style was "straightforward"—continuously cultivating and eliminating talent, prioritizing team values and the pace of talent renewal.
It was an arduous period. For nearly a year, she immersed herself in the factory, often debugging equipment online until 2 or 3 in the morning. "I initially thought my experience as an investor made me well-informed, but actually diving in revealed how much I didn't know." Repeatedly grappling with the same issues took its toll; half her hair turned grey, necessitating the use of hair dye every two weeks.
While the industry standard was focused on small 32kW stacks, she insisted on developing competitive, large-scale models. "Small-scale models can't achieve cost reduction or economies of scale," she argued. Her mindset is perpetually focused on finding the optimal allocation of resources.
In 2023, SNE completed its Changzhou base—spanning 160 acres (approx. 650,000 sqm) with 60,000 sqm of facilities, establishing it as China's largest integrated flow battery production base at the time. She imposed stringent requirements on cash flow and inventory: "Manufacturing cannot tolerate inventory; products sitting in a warehouse are worthless." She prioritized cash flow over profitability, stating, "Achieving positive cash flow is the true sign that a company has gained a foothold in the market."
Riding the Wave and Securing a Place at the Table
In 2023, the domestic energy storage sector entered its first full year of significant growth, with new installed capacity tripling the previous year's figure. SNE secured projects on the scale of RMB 1 billion, expanded its team to approximately 600 members, and commenced large-scale deliveries.
As a scarce asset in the long-duration energy storage sector, SNE attracted investments from central enterprises and state-backed funds including CNPC, SPIC, Minmetals Capital, and CRRC Capital, assembling what is widely regarded as the "strongest shareholder lineup" in the flow battery industry. Following its latest financing round of over RMB 300 million, the company's valuation surpassed RMB 3 billion. In the first half of 2025, it secured approvals for three large-scale energy storage power station projects, totaling a capacity of 3GWh.
To date, the company's cumulative shipments of all-vanadium flow batteries have reached 500MWh, generating nearly RMB 1 billion in revenue, while shipments of lithium iron phosphate energy storage systems have exceeded 4GWh.
Throughout this "mountain climb," she has also explored parallel paths: incubating an AI-powered electricity trading business in 2022 and expanding into lithium battery operations in 2023. The company is actively promoting hybrid energy storage solutions—"using lithium batteries for short-duration fluctuation smoothing and flow batteries for peak shaving and valley filling"—anticipating a growing number of such projects in the future.
Next Goal: Transitioning from Equipment Supplier to Operator
Upon reaching the "summit," Liu Na's perspective on the industry broadened significantly.
"Pure equipment manufacturing and sales no longer suffice to meet market demands; service attributes will become the core of future competitiveness." She began contemplating that the larger future market lies in services and trading based on renewable energy generation systems, rather than manufacturing alone.
In January of this year, she restructured the organization, freeing herself from being involved in every minute detail. "Over the next decade, electricity market reform represents the biggest dividend in China's power sector." As infrastructure enters an era of stock competition, operational efficiency at the scenario level and leveraging AI to enhance electricity revenue will become key sources of value.
"The future of electricity will usher in an era of the Energy Internet. The most attractive companies will be those that control the most power assets and electricity data," Liu Na envisions.
The transition from equipment supplier to power operator is the most discussed topic within SNE. The challenge before her is how to allocate resources strategically and attract top-tier talent.
"Entrepreneurship is essentially a cycle of falling into pits and climbing out. The core competency isn't avoiding pitfalls, but having the ability to immediately get up and sprint forward after falling in," Liu Na reflects.
Just as the business enters a phase of relative stability, she has embarked on a new round of intense effort.
From finance professional to energy storage entrepreneur, from "outsider" to industry dark horse, Liu Na has achieved a cross-sector breakthrough in just four years. In these uncertain times, only through meticulous cost control, optimal resource allocation, and unwavering persistence in one's goals can one navigate the cycles and reach the summit.
For her, however, reaching one mountain top merely provides a vantage point to identify the next, higher peak.