"Qianxun Intelligence" Completes 528 Million Yuan in Pre-A Round Financing to Accelerate the Implementation of Embodied AI General Models | Exclusive Report by 36Kr
Text | Wang Fangyu
Editor | Su Jianxun
36Kr learned that recently, the embodied intelligence startup "Spirit AI" announced the completion of a Pre - A round of financing worth 528 million yuan.
This round of financing was led by Prosperity7 Ventures (P7) under Aramco Ventures, with follow - on investments from institutions such as China Merchants Capital, GF Xinde Investment Management, Jingya Capital, Orient Fortune Capital, Huakong Fund, Huafa Group, and Shanfu Science and Technology Innovation Sub - Fund. In addition, existing shareholders such as Fortune Capital, Borui Capital, Honghui Capital, and Qiancheng Capital continued to increase their investments in this round.
After this round of financing, Spirit AI will continue to accelerate the iteration of the embodied large - model, the evolution of robot bodies, and the construction of a talent team.
Spirit AI was founded in February 2024 by Han Fengtao, the former CTO of LuoShi Robotics. Since its establishment, the cumulative financing amount has exceeded 800 million yuan.
Co - founder Gao Yang graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and studied under Pieter Abbeel, a master in the field of embodied intelligence. He focuses on research in cross - modal interaction of robots, and his academic achievements have been selected for top - tier conferences such as NeurIPS and ICRA multiple times.
Spirit AI recently released a demonstration video of the preview version of its self - developed VLA Spirit v1. In the video, the robot can smoothly complete the entire process of folding clothes and execute continuous long - range complex tasks.
Operations like folding clothes are extremely difficult for robots because the wrinkles, textures, and placement postures of clothes are highly random, which means that each step of the operation faces different challenges. The self - developed Spirit v1 VLA of Spirit AI can accurately complete complex multi - task continuous operations like folding clothes according to natural language instructions, and its operation ability has been significantly improved. It is reported that the official version of Spirit v1 VLA will also be publicly released soon.
In terms of robot bodies, Spirit AI's first commercial - grade humanoid robot, Moz1, is about to be officially released. It is reported that Moz1 has 26 degrees of freedom (excluding the dexterous hand) and is built based on the integrated force - controlled joints with the highest power density. Its indicators in terms of speed, accuracy, safety, and bionic force control are leading in the industry.
In recent years, the embodied intelligence industry has been witnessing an unprecedented investment boom and development opportunities, with huge market potential. Goldman Sachs predicts that by 2035, the global market size of humanoid robots is expected to reach 154 billion US dollars. As technology matures and the supply chain improves, the cost of robots will also decline rapidly, which will further promote their commercialization process.
Han Fengtao, the founder and CEO of Spirit AI, said: "Spirit AI is committed to building a globally leading general model for embodied intelligence and promoting the breakthrough and application of robot technology. In the future, we will drive technological evolution through scenarios, continuously and rapidly iterate the VLA model, and promote commercialization in trillion - level markets such as intelligent manufacturing and the service industry."
Views from investors:
Raed Twaily, the Managing Director of Prosperity7 Ventures (P7), the leading investor in this round, said: "We are very concerned about the strength demonstrated by Spirit AI in the generalization ability of VLA and the model iteration speed. The generalization ability of its VLA enables robots to adapt to complex and changeable environments and diverse tasks, allowing them to accurately execute continuous complex operations. We highly recognize the technical path constructed by Spirit AI based on international cutting - edge concepts. Looking forward, we expect Spirit AI to continue to make efforts, continuously expand the technical boundaries of embodied intelligence, lead the new trend of embodied intelligence technology development on the global stage, and inject strong impetus into the global intelligent robot industry transformation."
Wang Yuhao, the project leader of Fortune Capital, the angel - round investor, said: "Embodied intelligence is one of the technological main themes in the next decade. Fortune Capital closely follows the development and changes of this high - potential track. Currently, robots are rapidly maturing in the lower - limb locomotion aspect, but to truly replace humans in performing various complex tasks, breakthroughs in upper - limb manipulation and the 'brain' are crucial. We are very pleased to see that Spirit AI, as a rare team with both international - level AI and hardware capabilities, has demonstrated all - around rapid iteration and ability improvement in just one year since its establishment. Therefore, Fortune Capital has over - invested in this round. We look forward to Spirit AI continuing to lead the development of the embodied intelligence track in the future and constantly pursuing the upper limit of intelligence with the goal of building general intelligent robots."