Das Robotikunternehmen, gegründet von einer Doktorandin der Zhejiang-Universität, plant einen Börsengang.

Another robotics company is planning an IPO, this time with the participation of ByteDance.

Recently, Zhejiang Jiazhi Technology Co., Ltd. (Jiazhi Technology for short) has submitted an IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Securities and Futures Commission, thus emerging as another robotics company aiming for an IPO in 2026. According to the prospectus, Jiazhi Technology was founded by Dr. Xiong Rong from Zhejiang University and focuses on the field of general intelligent mobile robots. Its products include autonomous mobile robots (AMR), forklift robots, outdoor mobile robots, and Embodied AI.

Data from CIC Consulting shows that as of January 16, 2026, Jiazhi Technology has become one of the top ten intelligent mobile robot companies in the world in terms of order volume. In the field of industrial intelligent mobile robots, it is one of the top five companies in the world and one of the top three in China in terms of order volume.

Behind all this lies the story of a doctoral candidate from Zhejiang University who managed to bring Jiazhi Technology from a "lab" to the "front - line of the industry" in nine years.

Doctoral candidate from Zhejiang University founded a startup, aiming for an IPO after nine years

The founding of Jiazhi Technology started with the goal of "transforming research results into the industry". As a Distinguished Professor of Control Science and Engineering at Zhejiang University, Xiong Rong has been intensively researching in the fields of intelligent perception and control technology of robots since 2000 and has published over 100 articles in academic journals such as IEEE Transactions.

Initially, under the guidance of Professor Chu Jian, Xiong Rong began to develop football - playing robots and led her team to numerous international successes. In 2013, 2014, and 2018, she defeated Carnegie Mellon University three times and won the RoboCup World Championships. The table - tennis - playing robots and quadrupedal jumping robots she developed have filled several technological gaps in China.

In 2016, when a boom in industrial robots began in China, Xiong Rong realized that the core technologies developed in her lab were ready to serve the national production. So, she founded Jiazhi Technology in Hangzhou's Binjiang District with some of her students and Chen Shouxian, a world champion in robotics, and targeted the industrial mobile robot (AMR) field.

Chen Shouxian recalled: "At that time, the technological gap between China and foreign countries in the AMR field was still small, and the market offered many opportunities. We wanted to create real added value for logistics in the manufacturing industry with our technologies." This was the basic idea behind the founding of Jiazhi Technology.

However, the early days were not easy. Between 2016 and 2019, although Xiong Rong's team had filled several technological gaps, the entire AMR sector was still in its infancy. At the same time, leading manufacturing enterprises had little knowledge of the products, and market demands were very fragmented. This meant that market awareness - building had to start almost from scratch. In this process, Jiazhi Technology also had to take on the role of a "market awareness - builder".

Thanks to the algorithms developed at Zhejiang University, Xiong Rong and her team were initially able to focus on a few top customers. Through pilot projects in real - world scenarios, they could improve their products and demonstrate the added value of their technology. Thus, they could gradually present the advantages and application possibilities of AMR technology in the market.

According to the prospectus, Jiazhi Technology has built a "4C" core technology platform, which includes high - performance core components, adaptive high - precision spatial perception and motion control technology, a highly intelligent mass - cluster scheduling system, and an intelligent configuration and application system. This forms a technological barrier.

Nine rounds of financing, with the participation of Zhang Yiming's Quantum Leap and Lenovo Capital

As a business magnate, Zhang Yiming repeatedly emphasizes in his investments that he prefers to invest in "people" rather than "sectors" because he believes that outstanding technology talents and teams are the key to innovation.

For example, in April 2025, Zhang Yiming founded the Zhichun Innovation Center together with Professor Yu Yong, the founder of the ACM class at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. This center focuses on the research and development of advanced computer and artificial intelligence technologies, the development of open - source tools and algorithms, and the cultivation of top - notch talents.

In this regard, Zhang Yiming's Quantum Leap, ByteDance's investment platform, is similar.

In January 2021, Quantum Leap participated in the Series B financing of Jiazhi Technology together with Lenovo Capital and became one of the important institutional shareholders. At that time, the Internet traffic dividend was almost exhausted, and ByteDance was actively seeking new growth opportunities in the hard - tech industry. The investment in Jiazhi Technology was regarded by the market economy to some extent as a bet on the "scientist + world - champion engineer" team.

After the participation of Quantum Leap and Lenovo Capital, the value of Jiazhi Technology increased rapidly. From 500 million yuan at the end of the Series B financing to 800 million yuan after the Series B+ financing in August of the same year, and finally to 1.5 billion yuan at the end of December 2021. The company's value tripled within just one year.

During the increase in the company's value, a number of important investors also participated, including Xianghe Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group, SUPCON Information, Zhongding Capital, and Longfor Group. Xianghe Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group, and SUPCON Information increased their stakes in the Series B+ financing, while Quantum Leap and Lenovo Capital continued to invest. Zhongding Capital and Tibet Qingrui, a subsidiary of Longfor Group, participated for the first time in the Series C financing in December 2022.

Apart from the attractiveness of Internet giants and well - known investors, Jiazhi Technology has also shown potential in terms of its products and technologies. According to the prospectus, this mainly lies in three aspects: First, Jiazhi Technology has successfully achieved the commercial implementation of the OMNI and FOLA series products. Second, its EMMA all - around flexible mobile robot won the "Mobile Robot Product Innovation Award". Third, the company benefits from the explosive growth of the robotics industry, and its technological advantages are increasingly being translated into market value.

From 2024 to 2025, with the introduction of the NERA - P Embodied AI Robot and the NERA - C Robot Controller, Jiazhi Technology has expanded its technological boundaries and successfully completed the Series C+ and Series C++ financings. The Quzhou High - Quality Development Industry Fund and Caitong Capital participated at this stage and increased the pre - IPO company value to 2.13 billion yuan.

Looking back at the Angel financing in 2016, the initial company value was only 100 million yuan. Even after the Series A+ financing in 2019, the company value was only 300 million yuan. The company value increased 20 - fold within nine years, which shows the high recognition of the market for the "innovative technology + industrial implementation ability" in the hard - tech industry.

At the time of the planned IPO, Dr. Xiong Rong directly and indirectly holds 29.61% of the shares and is thus the largest individual shareholder. Since the company is not yet profitable, the most important independent investors are the Quzhou High - Quality Development Industry Fund and Lenovo Capital, which hold 7.04% and 5.8% of the shares respectively.

Caitong Capital holds more than 7% of the shares through its two subsidiaries, Longfor Group holds 5.32%, SUPCON Information holds 2.35%, and Shenzhen Capital Group holds 0.9%.

Focus on "Embodied AI", order backlog over 400 million yuan

At the beginning of its founding, Jiazhi Technology focused on the AMR field. At that time, it started with the development of mobile platforms and gradually added the ability of movement and manipulation to expand the functions of its products.

In 2024, Jiazhi Technology followed the trend and dedicated itself to Embodied AI. According to the prospectus, the company introduced the NERA series of Embodied AI robots in 2025. Specifically, the NERA - C Controller is based on modular hardware and software integration and can be adapted to different robot forms such as quadrupedal, wheeled, and humanoid robots. With the support of high - performance algorithms for visual perception, navigation, and decision - making, the robot gets an "intelligent brain". Technically, this is an important breakthrough for Jiazhi Technology from "mobile intelligence" to "Embodied AI".

The NERA - A Mobile Manipulator has a positioning accuracy of ± 0.2 cm and a manipulation accuracy of ± 0.1 cm, which further improves the application possibilities of Jiazhi Technology's Embodied AI products in fields such as precision assembly, medical applications, and high - tech manufacturing. The NERA - P Embodied Chassis is already commercially available. Data shows that the revenues from these products were already included in the company's revenue structure in 2025, making it one of the representative examples of "technology development to commercial implementation" in the industry.

Accordingly, Jiazhi Technology's sales volume has increased significantly. According to the prospectus, the company achieved sales of 74.95 million yuan, 115 million yuan, and 201 million yuan from 2023 to September 2025. In terms of growth, the sales volume almost tripled in a little over two years.

At the same time, robot solutions are the most important revenue source. In the first nine months of 2025, the sales revenue was 166 million yuan, accounting for 82.6% of the total revenue. The revenues from hardware products such as robots have also increased significantly and were 29.31 million yuan during the same period, accounting for 14.6% of the total revenue. Nevertheless, Jiazhi Technology is still in the red. Data shows that the net income during the reporting periods was - 114 million yuan, - 118 million yuan, and - 72 million yuan, and after adjustment, it was - 78 million yuan, - 78 million yuan, and - 36 million yuan.

The company has announced that it aims to improve its net income and turn it positive in the future by increasing sales, improving profit margins, and optimizing operational efficiency.

In fact, Jiazhi Technology has already achieved initial success in terms of profitability. Data shows that the company's profit margin increased from 19.7% in 2023 to 28.0% in the first nine months of 2025. The profit margin of robot products is even 51.1%, which clearly shows the commercial value creation of the technology.

Data from CIC Consulting shows that the global market for Embodied AI robots was only 3.9 billion yuan in 2024 but is expected to reach 365.6 billion yuan by 2030. This corresponds to an average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 109.9% between 2025 and 2030. This has attracted the attention of global technology giants and startups to the Embodied AI field and will stimulate the emergence of a number of leading companies with full - stack capabilities.

In this context, some companies have already achieved large - scale development through full - stack development or hardware innovations in industrial applications. Jiazhi Technology is one of the few Chinese companies that have achieved the industrial implementation of Embodied AI. According to the prospectus, the company had an order backlog of 429 million yuan as of September 2025.

A player in the Embodied AI field said that although the market is very hot, it is no longer about spectacular demos but about solvable solutions for customers that offer a real ROI. Therefore, there is no "half - baked" intelligence in real - world industrial applications.

In the pursuit of an IPO, more than ten robotics companies such as Unitree Robotics, Leju Robot, Deep Robotics, Jiuwu Intelligence, Yifei Intelligence, Jiazhi Technology, and Standard Robots have emerged. It is foreseeable that there will be a competition for technological strength and practical implementation ability in the future.

This article is from the WeChat account "Dongsi Shitiao Capital" (ID: DsstCapital), written by Chen Mei and edited by Wang Qingwu. Published by 36Kr with permission.