36Kr Exclusive | A National-Level Industrial Fund Steps In, QiaoTian Intelligence Secures Hundreds of Millions in Financing

Hard Kr has learned that Shanghai Qiaotian Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qiaotian Intelligent") has completed a 100-million-yuan-level Series A+ financing, exclusively invested by the National Industrial Mother Machine Industry Investment Fund. The funds will be used for the expansion of high-end production capacity, the R & D and iteration of core technologies, and the global market layout.

Qiaotian Intelligent was founded in 2016 and focuses on the robot end and peripheral equipment of automobile OEMs. Its product matrix covers quick-change plates, magnetic mold-changing systems, grinding machines, industrial connectors, etc. The company has previously received investments from industrial capital such as Jili Houtong, Wa Niu Capital, Midea Capital, and Zhejiang Venture Capital.

Liu Xiaoping, the founder and chairman of the company, has 20 years of industry experience. He once served as the production director and technical director of Sodick Japan. In 2010, he founded Qiaotian Precision to provide OEM services for KUKA robots.

The company officially became the supplier of localized quick-change plate equipment for Beijing Benz at the end of last year and has actively gone global to connect with German Benz and leading European automobile manufacturers. It achieved a 30% - 40% growth in the first quarter of 2026.

A on - site case of Qiaotian's magnetic mold - changing system at Midea's Jingzhou washing machine factory (Source: the enterprise)

Currently, the magnetic mold - changing business has become the company's second growth curve. In the first quarter of 2026, the order volume of the magnetic mold - changing business exceeded the total of last year. The customers cover leading enterprises such as Geely Automobile, Xingtai Mould, and Nobo Automobile.

In terms of production capacity, the company's current scale is about 500 - 600 million yuan. After the expansion, it is expected to reach the level of 1 billion yuan. A large number of equipment has been invested in the Jiashan base, and a dedicated production and R & D building for magnetic plates has been established.

Looking to the future, Liu Xiaoping said that one of the biggest tasks in 2026 is to make collaborative preparations for the merger and acquisition integration strategy, and achieve the synergistic effect of "1 + 1 > 2" through mergers and acquisitions.

The following is an excerpt from the dialogue between Hard Kr and Liu Xiaoping:

Hard Kr: Has the magnetic mold - changing market reached an inflection point? What is the driving force behind the explosion of orders?

Liu Xiaoping: I've always been optimistic about the magnetic mold - changing market, but it really needs a cultivation period. It's more expensive than traditional mold - changing methods, but much more efficient. The explosion of orders in the first quarter of this year, exceeding the total of last year, indicates that the market acceptance has reached a critical point.

The new production building of Qiaotian Intelligent's magnetic mold - changing system (Source: the enterprise)

There are several driving forces behind this. First, the pressure on the manufacturing industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency is increasing. The magnetic mold - changing system can significantly shorten the mold - changing time, and customers can see the economic benefits. Second, with the trend of automation replacing manual labor, many factories can't recruit workers for heavy - duty mold - changing work. Third, after using our products, our leading customers such as Geely and Xingtai Mould have shown obvious repurchase and endorsement effects, which has driven the whole industry to follow. Our customers for the magnetic mold - changing system have changed from "trying out" in the early stage to "bulk purchasing". I think this market is just starting.

Hard Kr: What is the biggest challenge the company faces when moving from a single - product to a multi - product matrix?

Liu Xiaoping: The biggest challenge is not the market, but the internal multi - category collaboration. We used to sell one or two product categories, but now we have multiple categories such as quick - change plates, magnetic mold - changing systems, industrial connectors, and grinding machines advancing simultaneously. Material management, supply - chain scheduling, team collaboration, and technology reuse are all huge tests. The complexity of production scheduling has increased exponentially, as the processes, supply chains, and customer delivery requirements of each product are different.

So we introduced the Danaher DBS system and improved it into our own QBS system. The core is to solve the problem of multi - category lean management. Our current goal is not to blindly expand product categories, but to maximize the operational efficiency of each category. This is also the reason why we will consider mergers and acquisitions in the future - not just to acquire, but to export our management system to the small and micro enterprises being acquired and help them scale up.

Hard Kr: You plan to expand your product line through mergers and acquisitions. How will you operate specifically?

Liu Xiaoping: This industry has a typical characteristic - "large but scattered". The market scale of each segmented single product ranges from 200 million to 5 billion yuan, but the share of single products of leading enterprises is mostly only 20 million to 500 million yuan. Large companies are not willing to do these single products because the volume is not large enough; small companies do well but can't scale up because large customers have strict requirements on the production capacity, system, and talent of suppliers.

What we need to do is to integrate these small and micro enterprises with technological characteristics but poor management. It's not just a simple acquisition, but to export our QBS management system, supply - chain capabilities, and customer channels to help them complete the process from "able to produce" to "able to mass - produce". In this way, our own product line can be quickly supplemented, forming a matrix - based advantage.

The investment team of the National Industrial Mother Machine Industry Investment Fund said:

"Qiaotian Intelligent has independently controlled core technologies. The company's quick - change plate products have broken the monopoly of overseas manufacturers on high - end quick - change plates, achieved domestic substitution, and have been widely recognized by benchmark customers in various downstream industries. With the transformation and upgrading of the domestic manufacturing industry, the demand of manufacturing enterprises for the construction of flexible response capabilities is constantly increasing, and the company's development has sufficient opportunities and broad space."

Against the background of the continuous upgrading of the manufacturing industry towards automation, flexibility, and intelligence, the advanced industrial - chain experience and rich upstream and downstream resources of the National Industrial Mother Machine Industry Investment Fund in the industrial sector will help Qiaotian Intelligent fully participate in the global industrial chain. Qiaotian Intelligent will take this round of financing as a new starting point for development, focus on the efficiency bottlenecks and reliability requirements in customers' real production scenarios, and continue to deepen the domestic substitution of robot ends and the layout of key equipment for flexible manufacturing.