"Mocang Robotics" Completes Tens of Millions of Yuan in Financing, Backed by Suzhou State-owned Capital and Inovance-related Funds | Exclusive Report by Hardcore Krypton
Author | Lin Qingqing
Editor | Peng Xiaoqiu
Hard Krypton has learned that recently, "Magic Warehouse Robotics", a provider of warehousing robots and intelligent logistics solutions, has completed a new round of financing worth tens of millions of yuan. The investors in this round include Waniu Capital (a fund affiliated with Inovance Technology), Suzhou Industrial Park Science and Technology Innovation Investment Fund, and some old shareholders. The funds will be used for product iteration, capacity improvement, and overseas expansion.
"Magic Warehouse Robotics" was established in Suzhou in 2023 and focuses on providing MagicStore software - hardware integrated solutions for intelligent manufacturing enterprises to bridge the "last 100 meters" between the production workshop and the warehouse. The company takes "light delivery, high - space utilization, and strong scenario adaptability" as the core of its technology, and its products are mainly applied in industries such as pharmaceutical chemicals, food cold chain, automobile manufacturing, new energy, and logistics parks.
In the year of its establishment, it completed its first - round financing. The investors included Source Code Capital, Fengshion Venture Capital, Weihe Investment, and Hong Kong X Fund.
Although the production process in intelligent manufacturing factories has been highly automated, the material handling in the "last 100 meters" between the workshop and the warehouse and the internal storage in the warehouse still rely heavily on manual labor. The efficiency of traditional solutions is far from satisfactory. The manual forklift model has remained unchanged in its basic form and working mode for a century. While the automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) can bring some efficiency improvements, its high transformation cost (3 to 5 times that of traditional solutions), limited increase in space utilization (usually only about 50%), strict requirements for site transformation, and long investment pay - back period have discouraged many enterprises.
Cheng Changshun, the founder of "Magic Warehouse Robotics", pointed out that customers need cost - effective, lightly - modified solutions that can adapt to existing scenarios. Although there are many players in the industry, they often fall into the "big and comprehensive" trap. For example, they develop dozens of robots, but the competitiveness of each single product is weak, the scenarios are difficult to close - loop, and the project delivery is complex and costly. The solution of "Magic Warehouse Robotics" is an extremely focused "1 + 4" strategy. Its core logic lies in deconstructing the essence of warehousing logistics - goods only need to move in three - dimensional space (X, Y, and Z axes).
Based on this, the MagicAnt ground - handling robot developed by "Magic Warehouse Robotics" is responsible for planar movement (X and Y axes) to connect the workshop and the warehouse. The MagicCarpet three - dimensional warehousing robot relies on the multi - layer MagicRack track system to operate efficiently in the warehouse (coordination of X, Y, and Z axes). The MagicLift vertical - handling robot is responsible for vertical handling (Z axis). The MagicVision software platform conducts unified scheduling to form a complete closed - loop.
With a minimalist combination of four core hardware products and one set of software, "Magic Warehouse Robotics" meets the needs of multiple industries such as pharmaceutical chemicals, automobiles, new energy, food cold chain, and logistics parks. Standardized and large - scale production reduces the material cost of a single machine, and the "light delivery" model significantly reduces project expenses, making the average cost per storage location of the overall solution 30% - 50% lower than that of traditional automated warehouses. The core value of its solution lies in significantly improving space utilization efficiency, and it still has great potential for excavating warehouse space up to 30 meters high.
At the same time, the hardware design pursues high - quality, stability, and reliability. The MagicCarpet adopts a lightweight body with a minimum body height of only 10 cm and excellent self - weight control (for example, the MC1000 model weighs only 150 kg). It integrates laser and RFID navigation, operates quietly, and meets the automotive - grade durability standard. The MagicAnt can not only perform high - precision direct ground pick - and - place operations but also adapt its own posture according to the deviation of the goods' placement position. The MagicVision software platform uses AI algorithms to not only connect the digital full - process management from order execution to inventory but also realize the group intelligence of multiple types of robots. The company has applied for more than 100 patents, more than half of which are invention patents.
Since its establishment, "Magic Warehouse Robotics" has delivered about 20 projects. Its customers include JD Logistics, the Shenzhen Distribution Center of Sinopharm Group, the listed pharmaceutical company Jiudian Pharmaceutical, and Weichai Power. In the Jiudian Changsha project, the robots achieved full - process unmanned operation from the offline of the packaging line to handling, warehousing, picking, and outbound, significantly increasing the space utilization of its 24 - meter - high warehouse. Due to the strict requirements of GMP certification for constant temperature and humidity and full - process traceability in the pharmaceutical industry, it has become a necessary field for "Magic Warehouse Robotics" to break through.
Regarding the product evolution direction, Cheng Changshun said: "In the '1 + 4' product combination, we need to make each product more intelligent and develop towards embodied robots. Let the robots sense the environment by themselves and make small - scale autonomous decisions." This means sinking some algorithms and computing power from the upper - level scheduling system to individual robots, enabling them to communicate and coordinate autonomously (such as path avoidance) in cluster cooperation, reducing their absolute dependence on the "brain", and improving the efficiency and stability of the system.
In terms of the team, founder Cheng Changshun has more than 15 years of industry experience and has worked in foreign - funded enterprises such as Dematic (formerly Siemens Industrial Logistics) and TGW. The CTO is from the BYD Auto team, injecting cross - field technological concepts into the research and development of warehousing robots.
Investors' views:
Waniu Capital: Intelligent manufacturing attaches great importance to the value of warehousing space efficiency and operational flexibility. As the core equipment of intelligent warehousing, three - dimensional warehousing robots have broken the long - existing bottlenecks of labor cost and efficiency. Through system integration, they can also extend to production - line logistics, and the market is experiencing explosive growth. The Magic Warehouse team has rich industry experience and has successfully implemented and delivered multiple well - known projects, with solid product engineering capabilities. Since the investment, the enterprise team has demonstrated strong delivery and innovation capabilities, and achieved remarkable results in market expansion. Waniu Capital adheres to value investment in in - depth empowering of hardcore technology. We are full of confidence in the enterprise's future development, will continue to empower the enterprise, and look forward to its standing out in the industry competition and realizing greater value.
Suzhou Industrial Park Science and Technology Innovation Investment: The warehousing and logistics market is worth trillions of yuan and is moving from the automation stage to the intelligent stage. Warehousing and logistics robots are a new productive force for reducing the overall social logistics cost. We are optimistic about the more than a decade of industry experience accumulation of the Magic Warehouse team in the field of intelligent warehousing. Through its self - developed MagicStore software - hardware integrated products and excellent engineering planning solutions, it has helped many industry benchmark customers improve warehousing efficiency and save costs. We believe that Magic Warehouse can develop into a leading enterprise in the field of intelligent warehousing.