A young man from Shenzhen sells underground pipeline robots: earning 249 million yuan annually, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the only one in the world.

A robotics company is planning for an IPO, but its robots are somewhat different from what people commonly understand.

On August 28, Shenzhen Bomingwei Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Bomingwei Technology) submitted a listing application to the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

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Founded in 2014, Bomingwei Technology is a company that specializes in robots for special spaces in pipeline networks. It is committed to solving the prominent problems in the operation, maintenance, and safety of urban underground spaces brought about by rapid urbanization.

Dai Yi, the founder of Bomingwei Technology, was born in the 1980s and is from Fuxin, Liaoning. He moved to Shenzhen with his parents in the 1990s. Dai Yi graduated from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China for his undergraduate and master's degrees and later obtained a master's degree in financial engineering from Florida State University in the United States.

According to the local Shenzhen media "Longhua Concentric Circle", in 2012, Dai Yi returned to China and took over Shenzhen Bomingwei System Engineering Co., Ltd. from his father. The main business of this company was weak current system engineering, but Dai Yi wanted to develop technological products. Dai Yi and his team had developed various smart products such as smart meters, smart water meters, and smart door locks, but none of them were the technological products he truly desired.

In 2013, in a cooperation with China Southern Power Grid, Dai Yi and his team developed a special robot for detecting the operating status of cables in cable trenches. If special robots can be used for cables, can exclusive robots also be developed for urban underground pipelines for pipeline mapping, detection, cleaning, and repair?

In the past construction process, the construction and maintenance of urban underground pipeline networks were relatively weak. A considerable number of pipelines were at risk of leakage, cracks, blockages, and collapses. In most places, pipeline maintenance and inspection still rely on traditional manual entry into pipes. Manual operation is inefficient, and workers have to face extremely harsh working environments and a certain mortality rate.

At the beginning of 2014, Dai Yi founded Bomingwei Technology. Initially, Bomingwei Technology targeted various special robots, such as military, fire - fighting, and power robots. After receiving orders for pipeline inspection robots, the company began to focus entirely on the research and development of underground pipeline robots and gradually formed an overall solution of "urban pipeline network data informatization + special robots + professional services".

In January 2015, Bomingwei Technology received angel financing from Zhengxuan Investment. In June 2018, it received a Series A financing of 50 million yuan led by Northern Light Venture Capital, with Zhengxuan Investment and MDVC following. At that time, it was the largest financing in the Chinese special robot industry. In October 2019, it received a Series B financing of 50 million yuan led by CSSC Investment, with Northern Light following.

In response to the difficult working environment in pipelines, Bomingwei proposed a full - life - cycle service plan for pipeline networks. It is not only a supplier of pipeline network robots but also provides a complete medical service system for pipeline networks to global cities from four dimensions: mapping, detection, cleaning, and repair.

Bomingwei Technology established the "Joint Laboratory for Urban Pipeline Network Big Data and Artificial Intelligence" with the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to build a cloud computing platform for pipeline network data processing. It also established a joint testing base with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, using multi - algorithms such as image, acoustics, and electromagnetics to analyze various pipeline network defects. Its business covers three core areas: robots and AI platforms, engineering technology solutions, and UV - cured repair hoses, providing a complete pipeline network ecosystem solution for cities.

According to the Frost & Sullivan report, in terms of the revenue of global pipeline network special space robots in 2024, Bomingwei Technology ranked first among Chinese market participants. According to the Frost & Sullivan report, Bomingwei Technology has developed into the only company in the global pipeline network special space robot industry whose products and solutions cover detection, dredging, repair, motors, AI, and UV - cured repair hoses.

During the fiscal years from 2022 to 2024 and the three months ended March 31, 2025, Bomingwei Technology's revenues were approximately 162 million yuan, 214 million yuan, 249 million yuan, and 62.364 million yuan respectively; corresponding to the same periods, the annual/period profits were 22.394 million yuan, 30.643 million yuan, 40.153 million yuan, and 10.046 million yuan respectively.

At the 2025 Central Urban Work Conference, "building a safe and resilient city" was listed as one of the seven key tasks, which clearly proposed to "promote the construction of the safety project for urban infrastructure lifelines and accelerate the renovation and upgrading of old pipelines". During the 15th Five - Year Plan period, urban renewal is expected to complete a total investment of at least 4 trillion yuan. It will focus on supporting urban renewal projects such as underground pipeline network renovation and renovation of old urban residential areas. This industry is facing a new wave of opportunities.

Currently, the underground pipeline networks in major global cities have generally been in operation for decades and are severely aging. For example, the drainage systems in many European cities were built in the 19th century, making maintenance difficult. There are mandatory pipeline network detection requirements in Europe and the United States on a daily basis, and China has also been promoting the "Urban Lifeline Project" and the "Smart Pipeline Network" in recent years.

The global municipal pipeline network detection and maintenance market is already worth over one billion US dollars, and the robot penetration rate is less than 10%. Authoritative institutions predict that the compound annual growth rate of this niche market will be 10 - 15% in the next 5 - 10 years. Currently, most robots focus on detection, and in the future, they can conduct both inspection and repair (such as inner - wall spraying and crack sealing).

This article does not constitute any investment advice.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Pencil News" (ID: pencilnews), author: Huang Xiaogui, published by 36Kr with authorization.