Agricultural robot enterprise "ZKYD Power" completed nearly 100 million yuan in Series B1 financing, accelerating its march towards the global market | 36Kr exclusive.

Written by Li Anqi

Edited by Li Qin

36Kr has learned that recently, the agricultural robot enterprise "Zhongke Yuandongli" announced the completion of a nearly 100 million yuan Series B1 round of financing, led by Xiamen Advanced No.1 Manufacturing Industry Fund, with the existing shareholder Xiangfeng Investment participating. It is reported that this round of financing is mainly used for the mass production, promotion, and global market expansion of the company's new energy intelligent agricultural robot products.

Previously, Zhongke Yuandongli completed a more than 100 million yuan Series A round of financing, with investors including CICC Capital, Zhongfa Zhanqi, Xiangfeng, CCV, and Delian Capital, etc.

Zhongke Yuandongli was established in 2019 and is a national-level specialized, refined, and innovative "little giant" enterprise in agricultural robots incubated by the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The company is led by Academician Li Deyi of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and its core team comes from domestic and foreign universities such as Tsinghua University and Berkeley.

Since its establishment, Zhongke Yuandongli has developed unmanned operation technology for the entire process of farmland cultivation. Its products include unmanned agricultural machinery operation systems, new energy intelligent agricultural machinery, picking, plant protection, and transportation robots, etc., which can be applied to dry land, paddy fields, greenhouses, forest fruits, animal husbandry, and other scenarios, and have achieved commercial and large-scale applications, with a cumulative completion of nearly 1 million mu of unmanned standardized operations.

Currently, traditional agriculture is facing challenges such as limited resources, labor shortages, and increased environmental pressure, and agricultural production tools are also transforming towards new energy and intelligence.

Zhongke Yuandongli is aiming at the global trend of agricultural robots. Since its establishment, Zhongke Yuandongli has created four major product lines: the high-end pure electric intelligent tractor "Wantu" series, the unmanned agricultural machinery "Zhiniu" series, the multifunctional operation robot "Zhinong" series, and the unmanned agricultural machinery operation system "Zhiyun" series.

At present, Zhongke Yuandongli's products have entered the stage of large-scale commercialization. According to official information, the first batch of new energy intelligent agricultural machinery of Zhongke Yuandongli, the "Wantu" series tractors, has been put into use in the ten-thousand-mu farm in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, and multiple pastures. From the measured data, compared with traditional agricultural machinery, the "Wantu" intelligent electric tractor has improved the operational efficiency in pastures, large fields, and other scenarios by more than 30%, and reduced energy consumption costs by 80%.

In October last year, Zhongke Yuandongli also released the high-horsepower intelligent electric tractor Wantu 2604ET, completing the layout coverage of large, medium, and small full-horsepower segments of new energy intelligent agricultural machinery.

In addition to the domestic market, Zhongke Yuandongli is also expanding the international market. Recently, Zhongke Yuandongli signed a contract with the Punjab Province, the main agricultural production area in Pakistan, to jointly promote the implementation of new energy intelligent agricultural machinery and smart agriculture projects in Pakistan.

Regarding this round of financing, Dr. Han Wei, the founder and chairman of Zhongke Yuandongli, said that the contradiction between the increasing demand for professional agricultural machinery operators and the loss and aging of the agricultural labor force determines that agricultural robots are the main force of future agricultural production.

Zhongke Yuandongli is determined to empower agriculture with technology to make agriculture sustainable, high-yield, high-quality, and efficient, and contribute to China's agricultural modernization and global food security. Zhongke Yuandongli is using intelligent technology to promote the increase in agricultural production, efficiency, and income; and using new energy technology to reduce costs and emissions in agricultural production. We will leverage the significant advantages of manufacturing and going global in Jimei and Xiamen to accelerate product innovation and market expansion and contribute to the sustainable development of global agriculture.

The management of the Xiamen Advanced No.1 Manufacturing Industry Fund, the investor in this round, said that under the guidance of Academician Li Deyi, Zhongke Yuandongli has achieved remarkable results in improving efficiency and increasing income through intelligence, and reducing costs and emissions through new energy. Its technical strength and innovative concepts are highly compatible with Xiamen's industrial layout. As an important base for product going global, Xiamen will provide strong support for Zhongke Yuandongli. Zhongke Yuandongli will continue to exert efforts in the field of agricultural intelligence in the future, leading the industry's development and making outstanding contributions to promoting the process of agricultural modernization.

Xia Zhijin, the managing partner of Xiangfeng Investment, said that after years of accumulation in the agricultural frontline, Zhongke Yuandongli has achieved very good verification and customer recognition in the agricultural field, and the intelligent electric agricultural machinery products have also recently received batch orders from customers. As an early investor in the company, Xiangfeng continues to increase its investment. We believe that with the continuous efforts of the team and the joint support of the entire industry chain, Zhongke Yuandongli will definitely contribute to China's agricultural modernization.