CATL has invested in a post - 90s professor.

Ningwang has made another move.

According to investment industry sources, Beijing Galaxy Universal Robotics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Galaxy Universal") has recently completed a new round of financing exceeding 1.1 billion yuan. The top - tier investors include the strategic investment arm of CATL (a listed company), Puquan Capital (CATL Capital), Guokai Kechuang of the China Development Bank, Beijing Robotics Industry Fund, and GGV Capital. Additionally, many existing shareholders have increased their investments. Notably, this is the largest single - round financing in the field of embodied large - model robots to date and has set a new record for the cumulative financing amount in this field.

Undoubtedly, this is one of the most attention - grabbing projects in the current venture capital circle. Galaxy Universal was founded in May 2023, led by Wang He, a post - 90s professor from Peking University, in Haidian, Beijing. So far, it has raised over 2.4 billion yuan in cumulative financing, with a long list of investors.

There is no limit to popularity. The booming scene in the embodied intelligence track is vividly in sight. However, the more prosperous it is, the more we need to think calmly: Where is embodied intelligence headed next?

CATL's Rare Entry: A New Round of Financing for Galaxy Universal

Upon closer examination, Galaxy Universal has almost gathered all types of top - tier investment institutions in the market.

Back in May 2023, shortly after its establishment, Galaxy Universal quickly completed its seed - round financing. Since then, a series of leading top - tier institutions have joined. According to insiders, Galaxy Universal has high investment acceptance thresholds and a fast financing pace, leaving many institutions that came with high hopes unable to participate.

In June last year, Galaxy Universal announced the completion of a 700 - million - yuan angel - round financing. The strategic and industrial investors included Meituan's strategic investment arm, BAIC Industrial Investment, Shangtang Guoxiang Fund, and iFlytek Fund. Leading financial institutions such as Qiming Venture Partners, BlueRun Ventures, Matrix Partners China, Source Code Capital, and IDG Capital also participated. LightSpeed China Partners was involved in the early - stage investment.

In November of the same year, Galaxy Universal completed a 500 - million - yuan strategic - round financing. The investors were Hengxu Capital, Hong Kong - based investment firm HKIC, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Industry Fund, Beijing Robotics Industry Fund, Shenzhen Capital Group, CCB International, Zhiyou Scientists Fund, Rongyi Investment, and Jinjing Capital. Meanwhile, existing shareholders such as IDG, Matrix Partners, BlueRun Ventures, and Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Fund significantly increased their investments (in no particular order).

CATL's move is undoubtedly a significant indicator. As the global leader in power batteries, CATL has significantly increased its investment in the robotics field since the end of 2024. According to previous media reports, CATL has assembled a team of dozens of people in Shanghai for robotic arm R & D.

At the beginning of this year, Fuling Precision Industry announced that the company and its subsidiary, Jiangxi Shenghua New Materials Co., Ltd., had signed a "Strategic Cooperation Agreement" with CATL to further explore cooperation opportunities in incremental components and joints in innovative fields such as automobiles and intelligent robots. At that time, there were also rumors in the industry that CATL would invest in a humanoid robot manufacturer. It was not until the completion of this new round of financing that this investment finally came to light.

Another detail worth noting is that on the 17th of this month, Boyuan Capital, the market - oriented investment platform under the Bosch Group, and Galaxy Universal jointly announced the establishment of a joint venture, "Boyin Hechuang". Bosch China, Boyuan Capital, and Galaxy Universal jointly signed a strategic cooperation memorandum. The three parties will promote the commercial exploration of embodied intelligent robots in the industrial field through "Boyin Hechuang" and further advance the global layout. It is reported that the joint venture will focus on complex assembly core manufacturing scenarios and promote the large - scale implementation of embodied intelligence in the industrial sector. This cooperation comes at a critical time when the global manufacturing industry is accelerating towards intelligence and is an important milestone for embodied intelligence technology to move from technical verification to industrial implementation.

With the convergence of various parties, Galaxy Universal has stepped into the spotlight.

Led by a Post - 90s Professor: Plans to Open 100 Robot Retail Stores This Year

Galaxy Universal's rise is inseparable from its helmsman, Wang He.

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, under the guidance of Professor Leonidas J. Guibas, a member of three US academies. He began his research on embodied intelligence during his doctoral studies.

In September 2021, Wang He returned to China and joined Peking University as an assistant professor and doctoral supervisor at the Frontier Computing Research Center of the School of Computer Science. He founded and leads the Embodied Perception and Interaction Laboratory (EPIC Lab) at Peking University. In 2022, he established and served as the director of the Embodied Intelligence Research Center at the Beijing Zhiyuan Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.

In 2023, Wang He believed that the combination of multi - modal perception large models and embodied operations held great potential. He decided to seize the opportunity and embark on entrepreneurship. In May of the same year, he joined hands with Yao Tengzhou to co - found Galaxy Universal in Beijing, focusing on the research and development of embodied multi - modal large - model general robots. Yao Tengzhou studied under Professor Wang Tianmiao, the honorary director of the Robotics Institute at Beihang University, and has over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience in the robotics field. He once worked at the Shanghai Robotics R & D Center of ABB Group.

In Wang He's vision, "The physical interaction skills of the 'cerebellum' of embodied robots, such as body control and dexterous operation, combined with the cognitive, understanding, and planning abilities of the 'brain' are the blueprint for future general robots."

Not long ago, a video of a robotic dog accompanying a mother and child shopping in a supermarket went viral online. Behind this is the end - to - end embodied navigation large model TrackVLA newly launched by Galaxy Universal. Previously, robots needed to execute tasks step - by - step according to the process of "instruction understanding → environmental perception → target recognition → path planning". However, TrackVLA is like a super - brain for robots, which can directly convert human instructions and the seen images into action routes, achieving "listening → seeing → understanding → moving" in one go and realizing true autonomous navigation.

Moreover, in Wang He's view, humanoid robots must have "competence" and be able to perform tasks in real - world scenarios to achieve practical application. "Practical application means finding sufficiently general scenarios that can accommodate a large number of robots and realizing it with controllable resources using existing methods."

Recently, Galaxy Universal announced the official implementation of the world's first humanoid robot - based intelligent pharmacy solution. The embodied large - model robot product Galbot of Galaxy Universal can complete the entire process of inventory checking, replenishment, goods retrieval and delivery, and packaging, supporting 24 - hour uninterrupted goods delivery and inventory management.

Relying on this solution, a new store can be deployed in just two days. Meanwhile, this solution is compatible with various complex shelf structures, such as open shelves, precision - extraction shelves, and drawers. Robots can efficiently perform unattended operations independently, and deliverymen can pick up goods by entering a password.

It is reported that Galaxy Universal has received orders for 100 stores and plans to put them into use nationwide by the end of the year. Nearly ten stores in Beijing have been deployed and are operating normally. Each store of about 40 square meters is equipped with over 5,000 types of drugs and 6,000 storage channels, and tens of thousands of boxes of drugs are managed by Galbot alone.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of Galaxy Universal's commercial layout. It is understood that the team has demonstrated the end - to - end embodied large model GroceryVLA for the retail industry. It does not require separate parameter adjustment for each type of product packaging and supports precise grasping of various forms of products, such as soft - packaged items (e.g., bread in bags, marinated eggs), hard boxes, plastic bottles, and transparent jelly cups, achieving a unified grasping strategy across different product categories. This means that whether it is rigid packaging or flexible objects, they can be accurately picked and placed, meeting the needs of full - category retail scenarios.

Of course, this is far from enough. Focusing on the essential scenarios in factories, Galaxy Universal's Galbot has been trained to enhance its capabilities in tasks such as material box handling and material sorting. Currently, it has established partnerships with several leading automobile manufacturers, including Mercedes - Benz and ZEEKR.

In the health - care scenario, Galaxy Universal has jointly established the "Joint Laboratory for Proactive Health Embodied Intelligent Robots" with Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University. It is also conducting in - depth cooperation with West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University.

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

The Second Half of Embodied Intelligence

Currently, the embodied intelligence track in China is witnessing a financing boom.

Data shows that in the first two months of 2025, there were 27 investment and financing transactions in the field of embodied intelligent robots in China, with a total scale of 4.45 billion yuan, approaching the total amount for the whole year of 2024. Undoubtedly, embodied intelligence is experiencing a collective frenzy. However, this has also brought about continuous controversies.

Although the future is promising, the reality is that globally, embodied humanoid robots are still in the early stages. There is still a long way to go to achieve the scenes in science - fiction movies. While their American counterparts often receive hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, the domestic industry needs to pool large amounts of capital.

In Dr. Wang He's opinion, from robots dancing on the Spring Festival Gala to the hosting of robot marathons, we are currently in the era of humanoid robot locomotion. He believes that the real development should focus on the coordination of the hand, eye, and brain, which is the key to enabling humanoid robots to quickly empower various industries.

Zhou Zhifeng, the managing partner of Qiming Venture Partners, has also warned that the current challenge in the industry lies in the conflict between investors' eagerness for short - term results and the long - term nature of technology implementation. People often over - emphasize short - term technological changes while underestimating the long - term development potential. The embodied intelligence industry needs patience and long - term investment.

"No pain, no gain." The birth of any revolutionary technology is accompanied by numerous controversies and challenges. The same is true for embodied intelligence. Only after a wave of trials can it reach the other shore.

Wang He is looking forward to this moment. "The best technology is not something that makes people look up to it but something that people forget about its existence while still relying on its companionship."

This article is from the WeChat official account "Investment World" (ID: pedaily2012), written by Liu Bo and reprinted by 36Kr with permission.