Zhihui Jun hat das Ziel, an der Börse in Hongkong zu notieren.

Overnight, Peng Zhihui (also known as Zhihui Jun) made a splash in the STAR Market.

As everyone probably knows, on the evening of July 7th, Yuanzhi Robotics announced a tender offer for Shangwei New Materials, a company listed on the STAR Market, causing quite a stir. A three-year-old robotics unicorn acquiring an unassuming STAR Market-listed company has fueled speculation of a "backdoor listing."

However, Yuanzhi Robotics quickly denied the "backdoor listing" rumor to the investment community, stating that the move aims to inject more high-quality assets in the future and empower the internal incubation of the listed company. It also emphasized that Yuanzhi Robotics will continue to advance steadily according to its original strategic plan.

Over the past day, the investment community has confirmed from multiple investors in Yuanzhi that "the company's goal of listing in Hong Kong remains unchanged." Investors unanimously expressed the view that this acquisition will help Yuanzhi improve its multi-level capital market layout.

The so-called "backdoor listing" may underestimate Yuanzhi. The first publicly traded humanoid robot company is about to be revealed.

Yuanzhi's Stunning Acquisition: Hidden Insights

Looking back, this remarkable acquisition has many aspects worth pondering.

Specifically, this acquisition is carried out in two steps:

Step 1: Equity Transfer

Shanghai Yuanzhi Hengyue Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Shanghai Zhiyuan Xinchuang Technology Equipment Partnership (Limited Partnership), controlled by Deng Taihua, the chairman and CEO of Yuanzhi Robotics, will acquire 24.99% and 5% of the shares of Shangwei New Materials through agreements for 784 million yuan and 157 million yuan respectively. The transfer price is 7.78 yuan per share, which is the same as the closing price of Shangwei New Materials on July 1st before the suspension of trading.

Step 2: Tender Offer

On the basis of the completed equity transfer, Yuanzhi Hengyue launched a tender offer for 37% of the shares of Shangwei New Materials at the same price of 7.78 yuan per share. Correspondingly, the total consideration for the tender offer is approximately 1.161 billion yuan.

After these two steps, Yuanzhi and its related companies will acquire a total of 63.62% of the equity of Shangwei New Materials for a consideration of 2.1 billion yuan, achieving absolute control of the listed company.

It is quite rare for a unicorn company to break the norm and acquire a listed company.

Apparently, the acquisition target was carefully selected. With traditional business, limited room for imagination, and a relatively small scale, this is the impression Shangwei New Materials leaves on the outside world. According to the information, it is a supplier of vinyl ester resins, and its two flagship products are environmentally friendly high-performance corrosion-resistant materials and materials for wind turbine blades. Once acquired by Yuanzhi, it will quickly embrace the current popular concept of embodied intelligence, and the room for imagination is self-evident.

In response, Yuanzhi officially stated that this transaction can bring business synergy. "This acquisition of Shangwei New Materials can inject more high-quality assets in the future, empower the internal incubation of the listed company, accelerate the implementation of the commercial layout in several application fields, and further promote the integration and upgrading of the robotics industry."

In addition, BlueRun Ventures, an important early investor in Yuanzhi, added that this transaction is the first major acquisition of a general robotics company in the capital market and an important milestone in the development of Yuanzhi Robotics. This acquisition will help the company improve its multi-level capital market layout.

Looking closely, it is full of meaning.

Of course, the design of the acquisition has also attracted attention. Yuanzhi Hengyue, the leading platform for this acquisition, was established on June 25th this year and was specifically founded for this transaction.

Looking closely at the capital contribution structure of Yuanzhi Hengyue, 49.5% of the shares are subscribed by Shanghai Yuanzhi Yingfeng Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yuanzhi Robotics. In this way, the original shareholders and investors of Yuanzhi can be bound by interests with the listed company and share the operating results and floating profits of the listed company's stock price - the industry is quite concerned about how the investors behind Yuanzhi will exit, and this undoubtedly leaves a foreshadowing.

The other 49.5% of the shares are held by Shanghai Hengyue Dingfeng Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership), another platform controlled by Deng Taihua. The announcement shows that this part of the shares is planned to be subscribed and contributed by the founders, core executives, important industrial parties, and strategic cooperation parties of Yuanzhi Robotics, and the expected contribution amount of the founders and core executives in the future will not be less than 50%.

It is imaginable that the remaining 50% reserved space provides an opportunity window for the introduction of new capital parties in the future.

This is the first acquisition case of an embodied intelligence company on the STAR Market. Controversy and doubts are inevitable, but more importantly, it will provide a reference for other similar companies.

The Entrepreneurial Journey of a Genius Teenager: Crowded with Investors

Compared with Unitree Robotics, which became popular this year, Yuanzhi Robotics is more sought after in the venture capital circle.

Its co-founder is well-known - Peng Zhihui, also known as Zhihui Jun. He graduated from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2015 and continued his postgraduate studies at the School of Information and Communication Engineering of the same university. In 2020, after seven rounds of interviews, Peng Zhihui successfully joined Huawei through the "Genius Teenager Program." At the same time, as a well-known UP master, Zhihui Jun also has more and more fans on Bilibili and is known as the "Wild Iron Man."

At the end of 2022, Zhihui Jun officially announced his departure from Huawei to pursue his dream and passion. In February 2023, Yuanzhi Robotics was launched in Shanghai, with Peng Zhihui serving as the co-founder and CTO, and Yan Weixin, a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as the other co-founder.

The person in charge from the Huawei camp has emerged. In April this year, Yuanzhi completed the industrial and commercial change, and the legal representative of the company was changed from Shu Yuanchun to Deng Taihua, the former vice president of Huawei. Deng Taihua also serves as the chairman and CEO of Yuanzhi Robotics. Information shows that Zhihui Jun and Deng Taihua were colleagues at Huawei, with Deng being the superior.

Since its establishment, Yuanzhi has three robot families: Expedition, Elf, and Lingxi. Its products cover various commercial scenarios such as interactive services, industrial manufacturing, commercial logistics, and scientific research and education. It is expected to have a shipment volume of thousands of units in 2025.

Along the way, Yuanzhi has set off a financing feast in the venture capital circle. So far, it has completed at least nine rounds of financing.

Looking at the investors behind it, the financial shareholders include Hillhouse Capital, BlueRun Ventures, Sequoia China, Zhongke Chuangxing, Gaorong Capital, Matrix Partners China, Baidu Ventures, CDH Investments, Miracle Plus, etc.; the industrial and state-owned investors cover Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment Co., Ltd., Shanghai Embodied Intelligence Fund, Lingang Group, Lijiang Innovation, Lingang Investment and Control Group, SAIC Ventures, iSoftStone, Wolong Electric, Tencent, JD.com, BYD, BAIC Capital, TCL, etc., with a luxurious lineup.

Among them, Hillhouse Capital and Miracle Plus were both seed-round investors who supported Yuanzhi when it was just being formed. BlueRun Ventures has bet on it for three consecutive rounds. Previously, Hillhouse Capital shared with the investment community that when they invested in Yuanzhi, the concept of "embodied intelligence" did not exist in the market yet, and at that time, the domestic venture capital circle still regarded the robotics industry simply as hardware.

But today, the situation is astonishing.

Embodied Intelligence: The Wave of Listings Begins

Regarding this acquisition, many people see Yuanzhi's move as a "new path" to the capital market.

"At present, high-quality technology companies with sufficient funds, a large amount of cash, a bright business prospect, and enough room for imagination may be able to replicate Yuanzhi Robotics' approach and enter the capital market indirectly," sighed an investor. After all, according to the current listing pace, it will take quite some time to achieve an IPO step by step.

Therefore, the outside world generally believes that Yuanzhi's move is a "backdoor listing."

However, the truth may not be as simple as it seems. Not to mention Yuanzhi's official clarification, at present, Yuanzhi first controls the listed company but does not inject assets. In the future, it may independently cultivate a robotics business, which will become one of the main businesses of the listed company. Although there is a "backdoor," there is no actual "listing."

Moreover, Yuanzhi is currently very popular and is a star project in the field of embodied intelligence. An independent IPO is not difficult. As the investment community learned from investment institutions, after the acquisition is completed, Yuanzhi Robotics will continue to strive for a Hong Kong IPO according to the established goal.

Looking ahead, robotics companies are collectively sounding the IPO horn.

First of all, the IPO of Unitree Robotics is progressing rapidly. Different from Yuanzhi, Unitree still prefers the STAR Market for listing. Wang Xingxing and Peng Zhihui, the two most popular post-90s founders in the field of embodied intelligence, are competing for the title of the first publicly traded humanoid robot company.

In addition, a number of robotics companies are queuing up. In June this year, Shenzhen LeDong Robotics submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and plans to list on the main board of Hong Kong. In addition, Segway Robotics and Yunji Technology also submitted prospectuses for listing in Hong Kong this year. Youdi Robotics, JAKA Robotics, AUBO Robotics, etc. have successively spread the news or are waiting for an IPO, and Hanyang Technology, Yunjing Technology, etc. have announced the launch of a pre-IPO financing round.

Most robotics startups are still in the stage of burning money for R & D. Although many are exploring commercialization, it will still take time to achieve it. In this regard, seeking listing is undoubtedly one of the breakthrough paths.

This life-and-death competition has already begun.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Investment World" (ID: pedaily2012), author: Yang Jiyun, Feng Yuchen, published by 36Kr with authorization.