In over a year, Meituan has made eight consecutive investments in the robotics field (see the attached table).
According to statistics from IT Juzi, since the beginning of 2024, Meituan has been making investments at an average pace of once every two months, continuously investing in 8 robot projects. The total investment is estimated to exceed 500 million yuan, covering multiple rounds such as the angel round, Series A, and Series C+.
Key investment cases in the past year: Focus on multiple scenarios and business formats
From June 2024 to July 2025, Meituan completed 7 investments in the field of embodied intelligent robots, including projects like Xinghaitu, TARS, Independent Variable Robotics, and Miaodong Technology. These investments cover multiple aspects from core technology R & D to scenario applications. The investments in 2025 were particularly intensive, demonstrating Meituan's high - level attention to this track.
Xinghaitu (July 2025, Series A+):
As a key project led by Meituan, Xinghaitu focuses on the perception and decision - making systems of mobile robots. Its core technology can be applied to autonomous navigation in complex scenarios. This round of financing attracted more than 10 institutions such as Capital Today and CICC Capital to follow up. Meituan's leading investment not only provides financial support but may also open up testing and implementation channels for local life service scenarios.
TARS (July 2025, Angel round):
It received more than 100 million US dollars in financing at the initial stage of its establishment, setting a new high for the angel round in the robot field in recent years.
TARS focuses on the R & D of low - altitude logistics drones, which highly aligns with Meituan's instant delivery scenario. The small drones it develops can achieve "minute - level" delivery within 3 kilometers, making up for the efficiency short - board of traditional ground delivery during traffic congestion.
Independent Variable Robotics (May 2025, Series A):
Jointly invested by Meituan and its subsidiary Longzhu Capital, it specializes in industrial - grade handling robots. The technical highlight lies in precise control in heavy - load scenarios, which can be applied to the goods transfer in Meituan's warehousing centers to improve supply - chain efficiency.
Miaodong Technology (April 2025, Angel round):
Mondo Tech of Miaodong Technology is committed to creating consumer - grade entertainment robot product forms that are both playable and intelligent. Longzhu Capital of Meituan participated in its angel - round financing.
Conorth (January 2025, Series C+):
As a unicorn in the field of medical robots, Conorth's surgical robots have entered the clinical stage. Longzhu Capital of Meituan participated in its Series C+ financing.
Unitree Robotics (September 2024, Series C):
It is a globally well - known quadruped robot enterprise, and its products have been applied in scenarios such as inspection and cultural tourism. Meituan's Longzhu Capital's investment further strengthens the possibility of cooperation between the two parties in "last - mile" delivery. For example, quadruped robots can be used to complete terminal delivery in complex terrains (such as residential building corridors and outdoor steps).
Galactic Universal Robotics (June 2024, Angel round):
It focuses on the joint drive and motion control of humanoid robots. Meituan jointly invested with industrial capitals such as BAIC Capital and iFlytek Venture Capital. Its technology can solve the contradiction between flexibility and load - carrying capacity of humanoid robots, laying the foundation for future service robots to enter the catering and retail scenarios.
Meituan's investment layout in the past year shows that its positioning of embodied intelligent robots has gone beyond the "tool" level and risen to a strategic fulcrum for "reshaping service forms".
By investing in core technology aspects such as perception, control, and motion, and combining its own scenario advantages in instant delivery, in - store services, and the supply chain, Meituan is gradually building a new ecosystem of "robots + local life".
Collaborative cooperation with invested enterprises: From technology testing to scenario implementation
Meituan's investment in robots is far from a simple capital layout. Instead, by opening up its own scenario resources, it forms a collaborative chain of "technology R & D - scenario testing - commercial replication" with the invested enterprises. Some of the cooperation has entered the actual implementation stage.
Among them, the cooperation case of Galactic Universal Robotics is particularly worth mentioning.
At the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services, Meituan Pharmacy and Galactic Universal Robotics jointly launched the world's first robot - powered intelligent pharmacy solution. At the Meituan Pharmacy booth, the Galbot robot achieved 24 - hour unattended operation, self - replenishment, and picking of goods, and could identify and deliver products to customers. It is reported that this solution has been commercially implemented later.
At the 2025 Beijing AI Conference, the founder Wang He introduced that Galactic Universal's robots have "started working" in 7 unmanned pharmacies in Beijing and are planned to be promoted to 100 pharmacies in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen within 2025, capable of identifying and grasping 5,000 SKUs of drugs.
The core logic of this kind of cooperation is that Meituan provides a large number of real scenarios and data to help the invested enterprises quickly iterate their technologies, while the technological breakthroughs of the invested enterprises in turn improve Meituan's efficiency, forming a "win - win" situation.
Meituan vs. JD's investment strategies: Two different paths
Previously, we reported that JD has continuously invested in four robot companies, including Qianxun Intelligence, Zhujidongli, Zhongqing Robotics, and ZHIYUAN this year, which showed a strong investment momentum. However, Meituan's investment strategy in the robot field is significantly different from JD's, mainly due to their different industrial genes and scenario requirements.
Meituan's investment is centered around "ecological synergy". It is not limited to its own supply - chain scenarios. Instead, through a combination of Longzhu Capital (financial investment) and direct investment by the group (strategic investment), it covers robot enterprises in multiple fields such as consumer - grade, industrial - grade, and medical - grade.
For example, the investments in Conorth (medical) and TARS (low - altitude logistics), which may seem less related to Meituan's main business, are actually paving the way for future scenario expansion (such as medical delivery and urban low - altitude transportation) through technology reserves.
In addition, Meituan prefers to jointly invest with industrial capitals (for example, the investors of TARS include Lingang Science and Technology Innovation and SAIF Partners). This not only reduces the risk of a single project but also accelerates technology implementation through the integration of multiple resources.
In contrast, JD's investments are more concentrated in robot enterprises related to logistics, warehousing, and industry (such as Zhongqing Robotics and Zhujidongli). The core goal is to improve its own supply - chain efficiency. Most of its invested projects are directly related to warehousing handling, sorting, and delivery, forming a closed - loop of "investment - technology introduction - implementation in self - used scenarios".
In short, Meituan's strategy is to "exchange scenarios for technology and expand boundaries through the ecosystem", while JD's is to "compensate for weaknesses with technology and strengthen the closed - loop through investment". These two strategies represent the typical investment paths of platform - type enterprises and supply - chain enterprises in the robot track respectively.
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This article is from the WeChat official account "IT Juzi" (ID: itjuzi521), written by Wu Meimei, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.