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Royole Corporation

Flexible displays / hardwareChina
New to Unitard
💀 Dead / Bankrupt
Peak $6 BillionToday
~-100%
from peak
  1. 🦄
    Became a unicorn
    2016
  2. 📈
    Peak valuation
    $6 Billion ’20
  3. 💔
    Became a Unitard
    Nov 2024
  4. 💸
    Last valuation
    Wiped out
Capital raised
$870M
Total raised
$192K/day
Raised per day

Total raised averaged per day over approximately 12.4 years from founding to bankruptcy or shutdown. This is not measured cash burn. Methodology

Funding: kr-asia / Caixin (≈¥6.2B equity; separate bank debt excluded)
Current status
Ordered into bankruptcy liquidation by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court (Nov 18, 2024); assets auctioned, final lot ~¥504M (~$70M)

The rise & fall

8 moments · 2012–2025

The key moments.

2012
Founded in Shenzhen
Liu Zihong, a Stanford PhD, starts Royole to make ultra-thin flexible AMOLED displays.
SCMP
Nov 2016
Pre-D round values it near $3B$3B
A round tied to Warmsun pushes the display maker into the unicorn club.
Caixin
May 2020
Peak ~$6B in a pre-IPO round$6B
A pre-IPO financing values Royole near $6B as it preps a STAR Market listing.
Caixin
2022
Unpaid salaries and creditor suits mount
Factory lines stall and employees go months without pay as judgments pile up.
Caixin
Nov 18 ’24
Ordered into bankruptcy liquidation
The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court orders Royole and its subsidiaries liquidated.
Caixin
2025
Assets auctioned for ~¥504M
Plants and ~2,000 machines sell across five auctions, a fraction of the capital raised.
Display Daily
$6Bof peak value erased · 12 years

How it happened

Royole Corporation was a Shenzhen maker of ultra-thin flexible AMOLED displays that Liu Zihong, a Stanford PhD also known as Bill Liu, founded in 2012. It unveiled the FlexPai, billed as the world's first foldable smartphone, in 2018, ahead of Samsung.

Press reports put its valuation near $6B after a 2020 pre-IPO financing, but the company burned cash building its own fabs and devices while failing to win major smartphone-maker supply deals. A withdrawn STAR Market IPO, years of unpaid salaries and mounting creditor claims followed.

On November 18, 2024 the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court ordered Royole into bankruptcy liquidation; its plants and roughly 2,000 machines were later auctioned, the final lot selling for about ¥504M (~$70M).

Source: Caixin Global (Nov 20, 2024) and Digitimes: Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court ordered the bankruptcy liquidation of Royole and subsidiaries on Nov 18, 2024. Caixin / kr-asia: peak valuation reported around $6B after a ~$300M pre-IPO round in 2020 (press-reported, not a company disclosure); earlier rounds backed by Warmsun Holding Group, CITIC Capital and Shenzhen Capital Group. Display Daily: assets auctioned across five rounds, the final lot selling for ~¥503.9M (~$70.5M). Founded 2012 by Liu Zihong (Bill Liu).

Where they went

  • Bill Liu (Liu Zihong)
    founder, chairman & CEO (led at peak; liquidated 2024)
    Founder and CEO at stealth mode AI Startup
    LinkedIn ↗

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-10-13. See our methodology.

Disclosed investors (18)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round · Crunchbase ↗ · 2026-10-13 · Methodology · Leaderboard

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