The two sides of robotics companies: The rush to "seek funds" fails to solve the commercialization question.

Robot companies are starting to flock to "seek funds."

On July 18, the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission disclosed that Unitree Technology has completed the guidance filing with the Zhejiang Securities Regulatory Bureau, which means that this well - known robot company has officially embarked on the IPO journey. Coincidentally, recently, Zhipu Robotics also acquired Shangwei New Materials, a company listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, which is regarded by the outside world as a precursor to its "back - door listing."

Meanwhile, more robot companies are planning to enter the capital market. According to incomplete statistics, since the beginning of this year, 8 robot companies including Yifei Intelligence, Estun, and Kelei Robotics, as well as 5 upstream suppliers of robots, have submitted listing applications to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and 9 of them submitted their applications in June this year.

The collective push for listing by leading robot companies has also opened an exit channel for the capital that previously bet on these companies, which undoubtedly boosts the confidence in primary market investment and financing.

On July 21, three humanoid robot companies, Qianxun Intelligence, Zhongqing Robotics, and Zhujidongli, all announced the completion of a new round of financing. The investors include well - known institutions such as the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Mother Fund, Huatai Zijin, Xinghang Capital, and JD.com. Also in July, 11 robot - related enterprises including Kuawei Intelligence, Xinghaitu, Yunshenchu, and Xingdong Jiyuan received financing in the hundreds of millions of yuan level.

Compared with last year, the enthusiasm of capital for the robot industry has significantly increased. Taking the humanoid robot field as an example, in the first half of this year, there were 77 financing events in this industry, exceeding the total number of last year.

Whether it is humanoid robot companies still in the capital - burning R & D stage or industrial and consumer robot companies expecting capital empowerment to expand the market, they are all actively participating in this capital feast to seek an opportunity to survive the cycle.

Seeking Capital to Replenish Blood

In June this year, Wang Xingxing, the founder of Unitree Technology, revealed at the Summer Davos Forum that the company's annual revenue has exceeded 1 billion yuan. Previously, Zhao Nan, an early investor in Unitree Technology and the founder of SevenUp Capital, also said that since 2020, Unitree Technology's financial statements have remained profitable every year.

In the robot industry, especially in the humanoid robot industry, there are not many companies like Unitree Technology that achieve stable profits. Currently, the humanoid robot industry is still in its early stage of development, and there has not been a full - scale breakthrough in practicality, requiring a large amount of capital investment in R & D. Therefore, most humanoid robot companies are still in the loss - making stage.

Take Ubtech, the "first humanoid robot stock" listed at the end of 2023, as an example. From 2022 to 2024, the company's operating revenues were 1.008 billion yuan, 1.047 billion yuan, and 1.295 billion yuan respectively; the net losses attributable to the parent company were 975 million yuan, 1.234 billion yuan, and 1.124 billion yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of more than 3 billion yuan in three years.

Under continuous losses, Ubtech has been in a state of long - term liquidity shortage. At the end of 2024, the company's cash and cash equivalents balance was 1.191 billion yuan, and its external bank loans were about 1.538 billion yuan. The available cash was not enough to cover the external bank loans.

Therefore, Ubtech had to obtain funds externally. As a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, since August 2024, Ubtech has conducted 5 rights issues, raising more than HK$4.3 billion, mainly for the company's operation and development and repayment of credit facilities.

Compared with other enterprises in the industry, Ubtech, which landed on the capital market early and has a relatively stable financing path, is undoubtedly a "lucky one." Compared with Ubtech, humanoid robot companies that have not been listed have to seek funds from the primary market. Under continuous "capital - burning" R & D, humanoid robot companies that fail to "replenish blood" in time often fall behind in the market competition.

CloudMinds, a humanoid robot company founded in 2015, is one of the enterprises in urgent need of capital infusion. As early as 2019, CloudMinds planned to submit a listing application to the New York Stock Exchange, but ultimately failed to go public. After the failed listing attempt, CloudMinds' subsequent financing process was not smooth. In 2023, the company received more than 1 billion yuan in Series C financing, but there has been no further financing since then.

According to media reports, as early as the beginning of 2024, CloudMinds had problems such as salary arrears and layoffs. By March this year, the company's headquarters was also in a "shutdown" state. To break through the situation, Huang Xiaoqing, the founder of CloudMinds, is seeking more financing.

Searching for Commercialization Opportunities

Although the humanoid robot industry is booming in both the primary and secondary markets, from a commercialization perspective, these companies have not yet formed a stable business model, and the practical application value of their products is relatively limited.

As early as March this year, Zhu Xiaohu, the managing partner of GSR Ventures, questioned the commercialization path of humanoid robots. He said, "I asked these CEOs, where are your potential commercial customers? I feel that the customers they mentioned are all imagined. Who would spend hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy a robot to do these jobs?"

In the consumer market, the popularity of Unitree robots, which were very popular before, has indeed declined. Recently, media reports said that on a second - hand trading platform, Unitree humanoid robots, which were once in short supply, are being sold at a discount by many sellers, and the daily rental price, which was once over 10,000 yuan, has now dropped to more than 3,000 yuan.

In this context, humanoid robot companies are also introducing investors with industrial backgrounds to help their products find application scenarios.

On July 15, Zhipu Robotics announced that it had received a strategic investment from CP Robotics, a subsidiary of CP Group. For Zhipu Robotics, the significance of introducing CP Group is not just about obtaining financial support. CP Group is a multinational enterprise with a commercial network covering more than 100 countries around the world. Retail store brands such as 7 - Eleven and Lotus's are all under CP Group. According to the cooperation plan, CP Robotics will assist Zhipu in exploring full - scenario business in vertical fields such as life science and technology, new retail, and health care services.

Unitree Technology also received a round of financing in June this year, jointly led by six giants including a fund under China Mobile, Tencent, Jinqiu, Alibaba, Ant Group, and Geely Capital. In July, Unitree Technology won the bid for a procurement project of humanoid biped robot OEM services from China Mobile Hangzhou, a company wholly owned by China Mobile Communications Co., Ltd.

Compared with the humanoid robot industry, the commercial paths of industries such as industrial robots and consumer robots have basically taken shape, and the downstream application scenarios are relatively mature. However, these enterprises also face greater market competition pressure, and their profitability is limited. Therefore, these robot companies need to rely on the power of capital to expand more markets.

Many robot companies regard the overseas market as one of the key markets for future development. Currently, some enterprises have gained certain advantages in the overseas market. For example, Yunji Technology, which focuses on the hotel service scenario, has the world's leading number of online robots and covers more than 20 overseas countries. Geek+ Technology, which just went public in Hong Kong, has been deploying in the warehouse AMR field for many years, and its overseas revenue accounts for more than 70%.

Therefore, many industrial and consumer robot companies plan to go public in Hong Kong to obtain opportunities to expand the overseas market. Yifei Intelligence, which submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of June this year, is one of them.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Damofinance" (ID: damofinance), author: Damofinance, published by 36Kr with authorization.