Songyan Power Secures Nearly 500 Million in Financing within a Month and Joins Hands with CodeCombat to Open up a New Situation in the Education Market
On November 26, Beijing-based humanoid robot company Songyan Dynamics completed a nearly 200 million yuan Pre-B+ round of financing. This round of financing was led by CICC Capital, with Yuntai Capital and Houwei Capital participating as follow-on investors. The funds will be used to increase investment in technological innovation and R & D, expand ecological cooperation in high-value application scenarios, and establish a pathway from R & D to large-scale mass production and delivery.
After completing a nearly 300 million yuan Pre-B round of financing led by Fangguang Capital on October 26, the company received an additional nearly 200 million yuan this time. The interval between the two rounds of financing was less than a month, and the total financing amount was nearly 500 million yuan. In addition, the rhythm of five rounds of financing within the year clearly reflects the market's confidence in its technological foresight and its ability to achieve commercialization.
While announcing the financing, Songyan Dynamics officially unveiled its strategic cooperation with "CodeCombat", a leading player in programming education. The two parties will jointly invest resources to build a forward-looking "Humanoid Robot Programming Education Laboratory". This is a deep ecological cooperation. Songyan Dynamics will use its humanoid robot products as the core platform to fully integrate with CodeCombat's channel network covering more than 70,000 primary and secondary schools across the country, its mature K12 programming curriculum system, and its user base of over 43 million.
This is not only a crucial move for Songyan Dynamics to enter the education market. It also means that in the early stage of the industry, the company has begun to participate in and actively define the software and hardware standards for adolescent robot programming, laying the foundation for seizing the minds of users and building a sustainable ecological barrier in the future quasi-consumer market.
Strategic Positioning: The "Under 10,000 Yuan" Pricing Opens Up a New Market for Humanoid Robots
The core factor enabling Songyan Dynamics to continuously attract capital investment is its clear and forward-looking strategic positioning. The company's recently launched humanoid robot "Xiaobumi", priced under 10,000 yuan, is not a price war but a well-thought-out industrial breakthrough. In the humanoid robot market where prices often reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan, "Xiaobumi" with its disruptive price of 9,998 yuan has demonstrated the technical feasibility of achieving both low cost and high performance in humanoid robots, opening up a new development path for the industry. After it was launched on the JD platform on October 23, 100 units were sold within an hour, and the first batch of 500 units was sold out in two days. As of November 26, thousands of units had been sold both online and offline.
"We firmly believe that the future of humanoid robots lies in large-scale application, and the prerequisite for large-scale application is precise product definition and clear user value," said Jiang Zheyuan, the founder and chairman of Songyan Dynamics. "The strategic significance of 'Xiaobumi' lies in its precise entry into a 'quasi-consumer' blue ocean market. 'Our strategy is not to compete for the existing market but to explore the incremental market and expand the market boundary. The pricing of 'under 10,000 yuan' opens the door to a large number of potential users who were deterred by the high price. This is not only a commercial strategic positioning but also the construction of a sustainable market foundation for the entire industry," Jiang Zheyuan believes.
To achieve this goal, Songyan Dynamics has increased the proportion of self-developed core components and carried out in-depth vertical integration at the supply chain end. The company has adopted self-developed domain controllers, which not only optimize costs but also improve the performance and efficiency of the computing platform. In addition, the company has also explored and innovated in terms of materials and structure. The team has comprehensively optimized the structural design and widely used composite materials, achieving extreme lightweight while ensuring core strength. The reduction in weight further drives down costs, forming a positive cycle.
This step not only opens up the market for the company itself but also explores a feasible path for the entire industry to move from the laboratory to the quasi-consumer market.
Ecological Collaboration: Joining Hands with CodeCombat to Promote the Evolution of the Education Market
While breaking through in the hardware segment with "Xiaobumi", Songyan Dynamics is building a solid "moat" for the large-scale implementation of its products through high-level ecological cooperation. The "Humanoid Robot Programming Education Laboratory" jointly built with the well-known online education brand "CodeCombat" is the core manifestation of this strategy.
As a platform with over 43 million cumulative users, more than 260 million programming works created in the community, serving over 70,000 primary and secondary schools across the country, and more than 230,000 information technology teachers, CodeCombat's large traffic entrance, mature curriculum R & D system, and rich channel resources form a golden triangle of "content + hardware + channel" with Songyan Dynamics' leading hardware platform.
"Songyan Dynamics' performance in bipedal humanoid robots is really eye-catching. Their robots not only walk stably and are precisely controlled, but more importantly, they are very reliable in our real teaching scenarios, being stable and easy to operate, truly bringing high - tech robot technology into the classroom," said Li Tianchi, the founder of CodeCombat.
In this cooperation, the two parties will jointly build a new "Humanoid Robot Programming Education Laboratory". CodeCombat will contribute its years - of - practice artificial intelligence and programming curriculum system, which progresses from graphical programming to Python and C++, covering the learning rhythms of children at different educational levels. Songyan Dynamics will provide a flexible and reliable bipedal robot platform.
In the future, students can see how the programs they write drive the robots to complete walking, balancing, and even more complex interactive tasks by writing codes and designing actions. This "combination of virtual and real" learning method will truly ignite children's enthusiasm for programming and creation.
Li Tianchi pointed out, "We have always believed that good education is not one - way indoctrination but inspiration." This cooperation aims to create a "chemical reaction" between top - notch robot technology and high - quality artificial intelligence and programming education, opening a new window for K12 artificial intelligence education. We look forward to building a more free, open, and imaginative learning world for the next generation with Songyan Dynamics.
Two - Wheel Drive: Parallel Commercialization and Scientific Research Ecosystem Construction to Build Sustainable Self - Sustaining Ability
Songyan Dynamics has continuously demonstrated its excellent technology implementation ability and multi - dimensional market reach as a technology company. The company has always adhered to the two - wheel drive strategy of "ensuring technological leadership in the high - end scientific research market and promoting scale growth in the consumer market". While strengthening its technological barriers, it actively expands the market boundary and builds an endogenous growth momentum for sustainable development.
In the field of education and scientific research, Songyan Dynamics has established in - depth cooperation with the High School Affiliated to Tsinghua University. The two parties jointly built a "Robot Advanced Research Laboratory", opened up a general artificial intelligence ontology operating system and supporting R & D scenarios, and focused on tackling key problems in cutting - edge fields such as robot motion control and intelligent interaction, aiming to cultivate future scientific and technological innovation talents. At the same time, Songyan Dynamics actively builds a diversified and three - dimensional cooperation ecosystem and has cooperated with schools such as Beijing No. 101 Changping Experimental School, the Experimental Branch of Huangchenggen Primary School, and the Beijing Dance Academy.
In the cutting - edge field of bionic humanoid robots, Songyan Dynamics also actively promotes the in - depth integration of industry, academia, and research. The company has communicated and cooperated with many universities such as Xi'an Jiaotong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, South China University of Technology, and Hebei University, focusing on core technologies such as intelligent control, environmental perception, and bionic structure, and continuously improving its technological reserves and innovation application capabilities in the field of high - performance robots.
In the crucial link of commercialization, Songyan Dynamics also shows keen market insight and efficient result transformation ability. Currently, the company's order volume is steadily increasing, and it has already achieved this year's sales target while making preparations for mass production. It is expected that by the end of this year, its monthly delivery capacity will reach 500 units.
At the critical period when the humanoid robot industry is transitioning from technological exploration to large - scale application, Songyan Dynamics' two - wheel drive strategy shows strong foresight and adaptability. On the one hand, through in - depth cooperation with top universities and scientific research institutions, the company not only ensures the forward - looking and high - end nature of technological R & D but also locks in the core talents and innovative concepts of the future industry at the source, forming a deep "technological moat". On the other hand, the success of consumer - grade products represented by "Xiaobumi" has verified that humanoid robots are not limited to industrial and laboratory scenarios. They also have huge potential demand in C - end markets such as educational companionship and home entertainment. This positive cycle of "R & D driving the market and the market feeding back R & D" is driving Songyan Dynamics to establish unique competitive advantages in the long - term and promising market.