The 38 billion yuan of losses Meituan incurred in its AI business has all been recouped by Wang Xingxing.
No one underestimated Unitree.
On August 19, Unitree Technology debuted on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board at an issue price of 150.8 yuan per share. Its share price once skyrocketed by 629.44% at the opening, peaking at 1,100 yuan, and its market value once soared to 444.9 billion yuan.
This surge exceeded market expectations. It is worth noting that Changxin Technology recorded a maximum intraday increase of 525% on its first trading day after listing.
As of the close on August 19, Unitree Technology's share price stood at 845 yuan per share, with a market value of 341.8 billion yuan, representing a daily increase of 460%.
In terms of market value alone, Unitree still lags behind Zhipu AI listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which has a market value of HK$470 billion, but has surpassed MiniMax, which has a market value of HK$100 billion.
This is another capital feast in the A-share market. In this wealth boom, 36-year-old Wang Xingxing is undoubtedly the biggest winner.
According to the prospectus, Wang Xingxing holds a total of 33.36% of the company's shares directly and indirectly, which is about 30% after issuance dilution. Estimated based on the maximum market value of 444.9 billion yuan on the first day of listing, the market value corresponding to Wang Xingxing's personal shareholding is about 133.4 billion yuan, making him the richest post-90s entrepreneur overnight.
According to the 2025 *New Fortune Magazine* list, the previous title holder was Liu Jingkang, founder of Insta360, with a net worth of 20.2 billion yuan.
Behind Wang Xingxing, there are many other winners.
Unitree's prospectus discloses as many as 46 major shareholders. Based on the diluted shareholding ratio after the new share issuance and the peak market value of 444.9 billion yuan on the listing day, apart from the founder, 10 other institutions hold shares corresponding to a market value of over 10 billion yuan.
This list includes well-known entrepreneurs such as Wang Xing and Lei Jun, who have reaped huge returns from this capital feast.
For example, Wang Xing of Meituan has recorded a floating paper profit of 38.2 billion yuan, Lei Jun's Shunwei Capital holds shares worth about 17.7 billion yuan, Tencent's investment plus the shares obtained from new share subscription are worth about 3.5 billion yuan, and Liang Wenfeng's floating profit from new share subscription exceeds 1.1 billion yuan.
Of course, in this feast, there is also a wealth story of "investing 2 million yuan to reap 3.6 billion yuan, achieving a 1800-fold return".
Looking back at Unitree's ten years of development, some people placed their bets very early, betting on Wang Xingxing himself; others provided life-saving capital at the most difficult time, which was not only timely assistance but also a demonstration of outstanding vision; of course, there are also regrettable stories of exiting midway.
01
There is no need to elaborate on Wang Xingxing. After him, Shanghai Yiyi holds the largest stake.
This is Unitree's employee equity incentive platform, with a shareholding ratio of 10.9414%, which becomes 9.85% after issuance dilution. Estimated based on the maximum market value of 444.9 billion yuan on the first day of listing, the market value corresponding to its held shares is about 43.8 billion yuan. (The following estimates are all based on a market value of 444.9 billion yuan)
Both Wang Xingxing and Shanghai Yiyi are internal shareholders of Unitree.
As the largest external shareholder, the Meituan camp holds a total of 9.65% of shares through Hanhai Information, Galaxy Z and Chengdu Longzhu, which becomes 8.68% after dilution from the listing issuance, and the market value corresponding to its held shares is about 38.6 billion yuan.
This means that all the losses Meituan suffered from its lobster project have been recovered in one go through Unitree.
According to Yicai, recently, Wang Puzhong, CEO of Meituan's core local business, mentioned when sharing Meituan's AI transformation that from February to March this year, Meituan launched a company-wide "shrimp farming campaign", but the result was a skyrocketing bill, with a daily consumption of tens of millions of yuan, and the errors generated by the shrimp farming project also interfered with the actual business operations.
Calculated based on a daily consumption of tens of millions of yuan, Meituan spent at least 590 million yuan in two months, and the maximum will not exceed 5.9 billion yuan. The floating profit brought by Unitree on the first day of listing is enough to cover this costly trial and error.
In terms of the timing of investing in Unitree, Meituan was not an early player, it did not enter the market for the first time until 2024.
According to Unitree's prospectus, in January 2024, Hanhai Information invested in Unitree Technology with about 248 million yuan; from June to August of the same year, Lei Jun's subsidiary Astrend IV transferred part of its equity to Chengdu Longzhu and Galaxy Z, with each of the two parties contributing 5 million US dollars. In June 2025, Hanhai Information, Chengdu Longzhu and Galaxy Z made additional capital contributions to Unitree Technology again, totaling about 72.46 million yuan. All three entities belong to the Meituan camp.
Prior to the IPO, the Meituan camp had invested a total of about 400 million yuan. This means that after deducting the 400 million yuan investment cost of the Meituan camp, the Meituan camp finally reaped a floating paper profit of 38.2 billion yuan, with an investment return rate as high as 9550%.
At Meituan's general meeting of shareholders in June this year, Chen Shaohui, CFO of Meituan, stated that for externally invested AI companies that have gone public, Meituan will actively consider realizing returns after the lock-up period expires. He specifically mentioned Meituan's 7.6% stake in Unitree.
Right after Meituan comes HSG.
HSG acts as a concert party via Ningbo HSG and Xiamen Yaheng, holding a total of 7.1149% of Unitree's equity, which is diluted to 6.4% after issuance, and the market value corresponding to its held shares is about 28.4 billion yuan.
HSG is also an early investor of Unitree, having invested in 2019 and participated in Unitree's Pre-A round of financing.
HSG's official account "HSG Insight" published a one-page document about its investment in Unitree, mentioning that Wang Xingxing's vision at that time was: to build both extremely large robots larger than Ultraman, and extremely small robots small enough to enter human blood vessels.
After multiple rounds of internal discussions and debates, HSG finally decided to invest in Wang Xingxing. They evaluated Wang Xingxing as a typical outlier, the evangelist of quadruped robots in China. In the two dimensions of outlier (uniqueness) and vision, HSG gave Wang Xingxing a score of 9 out of 10.
Next is Matrix Partners China. Matrix Partners China holds a total of 5.4528% of shares through Matrix Partners No.1 and Matrix Partners No.3, which is diluted to 4.91% after issuance, and the market value corresponding to its held shares is about 21.8 billion yuan.
As the fifth largest shareholder of Unitree, Lei Jun's Astrend IV has also reaped considerable returns.
Lei Jun is the earliest internet entrepreneur to invest in Unitree Technology. At Xiaomi's launch event this March, Wang Xingxing brought Unitree's robots to the event to show support, and Lei Jun thanked Wang Xingxing on site: "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to invest in Unitree five years ago."
In July 2021, Shunwei Capital participated in Unitree's Series A round of financing via the Astrend IV entity. Later, Astrend IV transferred part of its shares to the Meituan camp and Shanghai Kechuang, successfully making a profit of about 12 million US dollars.
At present, Astrend IV holds a 4.42% stake, which is diluted to 3.98% after issuance, and the market value corresponding to its held shares is about 17.7 billion yuan.
What does this mean? Xiaomi just released its financial report showing that its net profit in the first half of 2026 was 14.2 billion yuan.
Of course, there are several other investment institutions behind this that have reaped a market value of tens of billions of yuan from their stakes in Unitree, such as Jinshi Growth, Robot Fund, Jiaxing Yimao, Junwan Hongyi, and Source Code Capital.
02
Looking through the list of 46 investors of Unitree, you will find that most of them entered after 2021, the year when Unitree's robot dog appeared on the Spring Festival Gala. The subsequent story is certainly glorious, but the friendship of providing timely assistance at difficult times is more precious.
Alphamark once tried to explore who would be Unitree's "Zhang Lei and Xu Xin"? At this time, some early investors came into our sight.
The earliest investor of Unitree is Yin Fangming. When Unitree was just established in 2016, there were only two shareholders, one was Wang Xingxing, and the other was Yin Fangming. At that time, Yin Fangming invested 2 million yuan in Unitree Technology.
According to the industrial and commercial information, Yin Fangming gradually reduced his 11.4% stake in Unitree until he completely exited as a natural person shareholder in August 2020.
If Yin Fangming had held on to his shares, estimated based on a 10.26% stake after issuance dilution, Yin Fangming's floating paper profit would have reached 45.6 billion yuan, making him the biggest winner second only to Wang Xingxing.
However, life does not have so many "what ifs". The story of the discerning talent scout and the outstanding talent did not last to the final success, and Yin Fangming failed to become another "Zhang Lei and Xu Xin".
Although Yin Fangming exited as a natural person shareholder, Junwan Hongyi, where he serves as a partner, took over his 9.1052% stake in August 2020.
The prospectus shows that Junwan Hongyi now holds 2.76% of Unitree's equity (after dilution), corresponding to a market value of about 12.3 billion yuan. Yin Fangming holds 16.62% of Junwan Hongyi, which means that the market value corresponding to Yin Fangming's indirect shareholding is 2 billion yuan.
At the very least, Yin Fangming has achieved personal financial freedom.
Some people left midway, while others accompanied the company all the way and wrote their stories until the bell-ringing listing moment.
2018 was a key node, three years before Unitree first appeared on the Spring Festival Gala.
At that time, Unitree Technology was located in a dilapidated small building in Binjiang District, Hangzhou, without even a house number, just like a garage. At that time, Wang Xingxing had no money left, and even used his own savings to pay salaries. If the capital could not be in place, it would affect Unitree's subsequent product delivery.
Fortunately, several investors joined Unitree that year.
In May 2018, Jisi Investment, a venture capital institution, invested in Unitree Technology's angel round. Eight years later, Jisi Investment holds a 0.8% stake (after dilution), corresponding to a market value of 3.6 billion yuan.
To the outside world, Jisi Investment is not well-known. It is an early fund established by Variable Capital under Geek Park, and its LPs include Chen Danian of Shanda Network, as well as well-known figures such as Zhou Hang, Cao Yi and Liu Limeng.
Speaking of which, we have to mention a widely circulated story:
At the 2017 Wuzhen World Internet Conference, Wang Xingxing brought the prototype of the quadruped robot dog Laikago to perform in front of internet entrepreneurs including Lei Jun and Wang Xing. As a result, the robot dog tripped over the threshold and crashed on the spot.
The middleman was none other than Zhang Peng, founder of Geek Park and founding partner of Variable Capital. He learned about Wang Xingxing's robot from an official account article.
In the end, Wang Xingxing failed to get investment from those internet entrepreneurs, but he received a 2 million yuan investment from Jisi Investment.
In other words, the 2 million yuan invested eight years ago turned into 3.6 billion yuan eight years later, with an investment return rate of about 1800 times.
Along with Jisi Investment, Daxun Investment and Anchuang Investment also joined in.
In May 2018, Daxun Investment invested in Unitree Technology's angel round, and then continued to follow up with another investment in 2019. Eight years later, Daxun Investment holds a 0.78% stake (after dilution), corresponding to a market value of about 3.5 billion yuan.
Daxun Investment is an angel investment institution founded by Zeng Liqing, co-founder of Tencent, in 2007. The institution has previously invested in companies such as Taomee and Qvod.
In May 2018, Anchuang Technology also invested in Unitree Technology's angel round. However, in May 2025, Anchuang Technology transferred its shares to Tianjin Suanli for 14.62 million yuan, which is still an institution under Anchuang Investment. At present, Tianjin Suanli holds a 0.25% stake (after dilution), corresponding to a market value of 1.1 billion yuan.
So it can be said that Tianjin Suanli entered the market with 14.62 million yuan, with a floating profit of about 1.1 billion yuan.
It is worth mentioning that the investments provided by these institutions are not large, and their returns are not as astonishing as those of later entrants, but they have achieved huge returns with small capital. Among them, there is also a female investor who has now become one of the winners thanks to her early bet.
She is Tian Jiangchuan, partner of Innoangel Capital.
Tian Jiangchuan was also one of the early investors that Wang Xingxing met, and the two first met in 2017. But Tian Jiangchuan did not make an investment at that time, missing Unitree's angel round. Later, she reflected that the problem lay in the "elitist arrogance" common to investment institutions.
In the following years, Unitree's products entered universities and scientific research institutions, which attracted the attention of investors. Tian Jiangchuan was one of them, and she realized that the demand for Unitree's products exceeded supply.
In early 2020, Innoangel Capital completed its investment in Unitree Technology's Pre-A round. Six years later, Innoangel Capital holds a 1.24% stake in Unitree (after dilution). Calculated based on Unitree's market value of 444.9 billion yuan, the market value corresponding to Innoangel Capital's shareholding is 5.5 billion yuan. According to reports, this investment has yielded a return of over 700 times.