The largest financing for humanoid robots has emerged, with a valuation of 20 billion yuan.

Still shocking.

Investment Circle has learned that Galaxy Universal announced today that it has completed a new round of financing exceeding $300 million. Led by China Mobile's Chain Leader Fund, heavyweight investment platforms and industrial giants such as CICC Capital, Chinese Academy of Sciences Fund, Suzhou Venture Capital Group, CCTV Media Convergence Fund, and Tianqi Group jointly invested. Meanwhile, it also received additional investment from international investment institutions in Singapore and the Middle East and existing shareholders. So far, Galaxy Universal has raised approximately $800 million in total.

This also means that both the single - round financing and cumulative financing records of domestic embodied intelligence have been refreshed again. According to informed sources, Galaxy Universal's latest valuation has reached $3 billion (over 20 billion RMB).

Founded in May 2023, Galaxy Universal is led by Wang He, a post - 90s professor from Peking University. To date, a long list of investors has emerged behind it. As 2025 is coming to an end, such a huge financing has become an annual microcosm of the booming financing in China's embodied intelligence field.

Financed $300 million, Galaxy Universal's valuation exceeds 20 billion

This is definitely a phenomenon - level project in the venture capital circle in recent years.

Back in May 2023, right after its establishment, Galaxy Universal quickly completed its seed - round financing. Since then, top - tier institutions have been continuously involved. According to insiders, Galaxy Universal has a high threshold for accepting investment and a fast financing rhythm. A large number of institutions that came with high hopes failed to get in.

Remember last June, Galaxy Universal announced the successful completion of a total of 700 million RMB in angel - round financing, including strategic and industrial investors such as Meituan Strategic Investment, BAIC Capital, SenseTime Guoxiang Fund, and iFlytek Fund; leading financial institutions such as Qiming Venture Partners, BlueRun Ventures, Matrix Partners, Source Code Capital, and IDG Capital. LightSpeed China Partners also participated in the early - stage investment.

Subsequently, in November, Galaxy Universal completed a strategic - round financing of 500 million RMB, led by Hengxu Capital, Hong Kong - based investment firm HKIC, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Industry Fund, Beijing Robot Industry Fund, Shenzhen Capital Group, CCB International, Zhiyou Scientists Fund, Rongyi Investment, Jinjing Capital, etc. Meanwhile, existing shareholders such as IDG, Matrix Partners, BlueRun Ventures, and Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Fund continued to make substantial additional investments (in no particular order).

CATL also joined the game. In June this year, Galaxy Universal completed a new round of financing exceeding 1.1 billion RMB, bringing together strategic investors from listed companies such as CATL, Puquan Capital (CATL Capital), China Development Bank's Guokai Kechuang, Beijing Robot Industry Fund, and GGV Capital. It also received additional investments from many existing shareholders. It is worth mentioning that Galaxy Universal is currently the only large - scale embodied intelligence model enterprise to receive investment from CATL.

Until this new round of financing surfaced, a landmark moment has arrived for embodied intelligence - $300 million, breaking the single - round financing record in China's embodied intelligence field.

The large - scale investment of domestic chain - leading enterprises and industrial capitals represented by China Mobile's Chain Leader Fund in this round not only highly recognizes Galaxy Universal's robot technology path and large - scale industrialization capabilities but also provides all - scenario empowerment for the industrialization development of Galaxy Universal's robots. It injects important impetus for Galaxy Universal to comprehensively accelerate its layout in the industrial, commercial, and household sectors. The support of international funds in this round further opens up space for Galaxy Universal to expand its global market layout and cooperation.

Throughout the journey, Galaxy Universal and its helmsman Wang He have left a deep impression on the venture capital circle. Born in 1992, Wang He graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University for his undergraduate studies and then went to Stanford University for his doctoral degree. After that, he returned to China and joined Peking University as a faculty member. He founded and led the Embodied Perception and Interaction Laboratory (EPIC Lab) at Peking University and established and served as the director of the Embodied Intelligence Research Center at the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence in 2022. In May 2023, Wang He co - founded Galaxy Universal with Yao Tengzhou.

In just two years, with a cumulative financing of approximately $800 million and a valuation of $3 billion, Galaxy Universal is undoubtedly a real portrayal of the explosion of China's embodied intelligence.

Received orders for thousands of robots and moving towards commercialization

What impressed the investors?

Not long ago, Galaxy Universal released NavFoM, the world's first large - scale navigation base model across different bodies and with all - around vision, enabling robots to understand the "essence of movement" for the first time. It realizes the two capabilities of following and autonomous navigation in complex scenarios and is the first in the industry to break through the long - range navigation of up to an hour and achieve dynamic obstacle avoidance.

Meanwhile, in response to the long - standing gap in dexterous manipulation ability in the industry, Galaxy Universal also released the dexterous hand neuro - dynamics model DexNDM, breaking through the traditional trajectory programming technology. For the first time in the industry, it created a dexterous hand control algorithm based on training, enabling the dexterous hand to truly flexibly handle complex, diverse, extremely long, and extremely small objects and perform precise operations such as in - hand rotation. It is proficient in tasks like screwing screws and repairing table legs, promoting the application of embodied intelligence in the trillion - level industrial precision field.

To some extent, against the background of embodied intelligence being incorporated into the national science and technology strategic system, Galaxy Universal's huge financing in this round sends a clear signal: After the rapid development of the motion performance of the global humanoid robot industry, it is entering a new stage of large - scale productivity represented by Galaxy Universal.

Investment Circle has learned that currently, Galaxy Universal has taken the lead in China in achieving the long - term, fully autonomous, and large - scale implementation of humanoid robots in real application scenarios.

Specifically, in the field of industrial manufacturing, Galaxy Universal has reached in - depth cooperation with domestic and foreign leading enterprises such as CATL, Bosch Group, Toyota Motor, Hyundai Motor, BAIC Group, SAIC Group, ZEEKR, and Great Wall Motor. It is the first in the world to enable humanoid robots to work autonomously in factories, and the cumulative order volume has reached thousands of units.

In the field of urban intelligent services, Galaxy Universal has taken the lead in the world in launching the urban - level embodied intelligence urban service solution "Galaxy Space Capsule", where humanoid robots provide services to consumers completely autonomously and "at zero distance". The Galaxy Space Capsule has provided services to citizens in dozens of urban commercial areas, urban landmarks, and residential communities across the country, such as the Summer Palace in Beijing, Wangfujing Street, Chunxi Road in Chengdu, Shishan Cultural Square in Suzhou, and Hubin Road Pedestrian Street in Hangzhou.

In the field of instant retail warehousing, Galaxy Universal's robots have been deployed on a large scale in dozens of retail warehouses, realizing the full - process of autonomous picking and packing based entirely on the large - scale embodied model, which greatly solves the problems of insufficient manpower and excessive work burden of staff in instant retail warehouses at night. Galaxy Universal's intelligent retail warehouses have been operating continuously and stably 24/7 across the country for one year.

At the end of 2024, Galaxy Universal's robots jointly launched the country's first 24 - hour intelligent medical store with Aibo Medical, introducing Galaxy Universal's humanoid robots for fully autonomous operation. It has been implemented in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, achieving a replicable and scalable large - scale solution for embodied intelligence in instant retail.

Galaxy Universal is also present in the field of medical care and rehabilitation. Currently, Galaxy Universal has carried out in - depth cooperation with Xuanwu Hospital, 301 Hospital, West China Hospital Group, and Peking University Medical System, effectively promoting the implementation of humanoid robots in scenarios such as wards, pharmacies, and guidance desks. While providing a more autonomous and friendly service experience for the elderly, it also helps hospitals effectively reduce the work intensity of medical staff.

As Wang He said, "Our ultimate goal is to make robots become new family members that can'see, understand, and help'."

China's embodied intelligence is approaching a watershed

As far as we know, this is also the first time that Galaxy Universal has received investment from Middle Eastern capital.

This reminds us of what an investor said. When Chinese innovative companies are transforming from technology followers to equal competitors, foreign capital is looking back at China. They especially want to increase their investment in Chinese robot projects. "Dollar - denominated capital now believes that the future of robots belongs to China, just like the era of electric vehicles."

Therefore, we have witnessed that in the past year, a financing storm has swept across China's embodied intelligence field. A well - known VC leader recently mentioned a statistic: The number of startups in the domestic embodied robot track has exceeded 150 this year. "Almost every week, new teams come for communication."

Although the future is promising, the reality is also in front of us. Currently, globally, embodied humanoid robots are still in the early stage, and there is still a long way to go to achieve the scenes in science - fiction movies.

"Actually, this is very similar to the new - energy intelligent vehicle industry from 2016 to 2020. After the survival of the fittest, the companies that finally settled down are those with solid technology, strong organizational capabilities, and a steady development pace. The same rule will be repeated in the embodied robot track." Many investors reminded.

In other words, when there is active innovation in a field, a rapid influx of talents, and a willingness of capital to take risks, it means that bubbles are also being generated simultaneously. Similar situations are happening in the fields of robots, AI, and the broader hard - technology track. The popularity is high, but in the long run, only a few can truly succeed.

Some investors said this year that the main challenge currently facing the industry lies in the conflict between investors' eager expectation for short - term results and the long cycle required for technology implementation. People often pay excessive attention to short - term technological changes but underestimate its long - term development potential. The embodied intelligence industry needs patience and long - term investment.

According to people's predictions, 2026 will be a landmark year for the commercialization of China's embodied intelligence. We are looking forward to this moment.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Investment Circle" (ID: pedaily2012), written by Liu Bo and Yang Jiyun, and reprinted by 36Kr with authorization.