10 billion yuan in investment: Hubei vies for a share in the humanoid robot market.

The foundation adopts the approach of "fund of funds + direct project investment" to proactively layout in fields such as the "brain", "cerebellum", and "limbs" of robots. Currently, it has completed a survey of the industrial landscape of core component enterprises in Hubei Province, and 13 local enterprises have entered the complete machine supply chain.

The 10-billion-yuan Hubei Humanoid Robot Fund of Funds has taken substantial actions.

Recently, Wuhan Investment and Control Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with East Lake High-tech Development Zone. One of the core contents is that Wuhan Fund, a subsidiary of Wuhan Investment and Control Group, will jointly initiate the establishment of the Hubei Humanoid Robot Fund of Funds with a total scale of 10 billion yuan, in collaboration with Changjiang Securities and East Lake High-tech Development Zone.

According to a reporter from Venture Capital Daily, the total scale of the fund is 10 billion yuan, which is planned to be established in two phases. The first phase has a scale of 5 billion yuan, and its industrial and commercial registration and paid-in capital have been completed. In the first-phase fund, Changjiang Securities and Hubei Science and Technology Investment Group of East Lake High-tech Development Zone each subscribe for 30%, while the Hubei Provincial Government Investment Guidance Fund and Wuhan Industrial Fund each subscribe for 20%.

This means that the Humanoid Robot Fund of Funds has received support from state-owned assets at the provincial, municipal, and district levels in Hubei. The fund is managed by Yangtze River Capital, a wholly-owned private equity subsidiary of Changjiang Securities, which has previously focused its investments on the semiconductor, new energy, and new materials fields. Currently, the Humanoid Robot Fund of Funds has not made any public investments.

According to the relevant person in charge of Wuhan Investment and Control Group, the "fund of funds + direct project investment" approach will be adopted. Focusing on industries such as core robot technologies and components, software, and platforms, it will deeply explore segmented application fields such as industry, services, healthcare, and agriculture, and proactively layout key technologies in future manufacturing fields such as the "brain", "cerebellum", and "limbs" of humanoid robots.

A person from Wuhan state-owned assets in charge of attracting robot industries told the reporter from Venture Capital Daily that the humanoid robot industry has received attention from governments at all levels since the beginning of this year, and the establishment of the fund of funds has progressed very quickly. Currently, a survey of the industrial landscape of core component enterprises in the province has been completed, and 13 local enterprises have entered the complete machine supply chain. Plans are underway to carry out investment promotion work in regions rich in robot industries such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.

The reporter from Venture Capital Daily noticed that Hubei Science and Technology Investment Group, the largest contributor to the fund of funds, is also leading the construction of a robot center while preparing the fund. In June this year, the Hubei Humanoid Robot Innovation Center was officially inaugurated in Optics Valley. The person in charge of the center told the reporter that the center was jointly built by Hubei Science and Technology Investment Group and multiple enterprises in the robot industrial chain, integrating the functions of a motion training ground, a data collection field, an application practice field, and a talent training base.

Currently, the innovation center covers an area of nearly 7,000 square meters and includes 23 application scenarios, providing common technology services such as training and testing, data collection, and model frameworks for enterprises. At the innovation center, the reporter saw that products of several local Hubei robot brands such as Tianwen, Yuanyou, Shennong, and Jingchu are undergoing scenario training and data collection, covering more than 10 application scenarios such as industry, culture and tourism, and firefighting.

According to the person in charge of the center, the park has been carrying out industrial support work. Next to the innovation center is the future ecological intelligent factory, where enterprises can conduct preliminary debugging and small-scale production to prepare for large-scale mass production.

From the innovation center to the fund of funds, Hubei is promoting the humanoid robot industry to leap from technology R & D to large-scale industrialization. According to Wuhan's plan, by 2027, the city aims to basically establish an innovation system for the humanoid robot industry, produce more than 10 models of complete machine products in batches, make breakthroughs in more than 10 key technologies in areas such as high-power density joints and lightweight dexterous hands, achieve self - controllability of the core component supply chain, create more than 30 demonstration application scenarios, have more than 80 complete machine and component enterprises, and reach an industrial scale of over 10 billion yuan.

Special Statement: The content of this article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors shall bear their own risks when operating based on this information.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Venture Capital Daily". Author: Yu Shiqi. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.