Zhi Huijun and his investors founded a venture capital firm.

The top - tier robot company is keen on foreign investment.

Yesterday's news reported that industrial and commercial changes have taken place in Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Venture Capital Partnership. New shareholders, including Zhiyuan Innovation Technology Co., Ltd., an affiliated company of Zhiyuan Robot, and Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Enterprise Management Partnership, have been added. At the same time, the capital contribution has increased from 5 million yuan to 55 million yuan, and the business scope includes venture capital.

Industrial and commercial information shows that the shareholders of Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Venture Capital Partnership include Shanghai Hillhouse Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd., Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership), and Zhiyuan Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. Among them, the shareholders of Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership) are Zhiyuan Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Hillhouse Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd., each holding a 50% stake.

It is reported that this company was established on July 9th this year, and Hillhouse Capital is the largest shareholder. So, what big plan is behind the joining of Mr. Peng Zhihui (Zhi - Hui Jun)?

The top - tier robot company is keen on foreign investment

As a company currently known as the top - tier robot enterprise along with Unitree, since its establishment in Shanghai in February 2023, Zhiyuan has attracted wide attention in the industry with its unique vision and innovative strength.

The company is led by Peng Zhihui, a former "Genius Youth" from Huawei, and has gathered many senior professionals, including Professor Yan Weixin from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

In just over a year, Zhiyuan Robot has risen rapidly and launched many innovative products. In August 2023, the company released its first embodied intelligent robot, "Yuanzheng A1", demonstrating its strength in the field of robot technology. Subsequently, on August 18, 2024, Zhiyuan Robot launched a total of 5 commercial humanoid robots in two series, "Yuanzheng" and "Lingxi", further consolidating its leading position in the industry.

As of now, Zhiyuan has completed 12 rounds of financing, and its valuation has reached 15 billion yuan. Behind it are star institutions and industrial giants such as Tencent, BYD, Sequoia, and Hillhouse.

Now, Zhiyuan's investment in Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Venture Capital Enterprise may mean that it will increase its foreign investment business in the future.

It is worth noting that Hillhouse has always been an early investor in Zhiyuan.

According to Qichacha data, Hillhouse Capital participated in the angel - round investment of Zhiyuan Robot as early as April 2023 and followed up with another investment in the A+ round.

Therefore, the current Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Venture Capital Enterprise can be said to be a new venture capital enterprise jointly established by Zhiyuan Robot and its investors.

There are more details here. Among the investors this time, there is also a company called Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Enterprise Management Partnership.

According to Qichacha, this company was also jointly established by Zhiyuan Robot and Hillhouse Capital in June 2025. The enterprise's capital contribution is 10 million yuan, with each party contributing 5 million yuan. Its business scope includes enterprise management and enterprise management consulting.

The emergence of these two companies shows that Mr. Peng Zhihui is planning a big move. The venture capital business of the new company indicates that the direction of this plan may be to invest in the upstream and downstream industries of the robot industry to better build the industrial ecosystem of Zhiyuan Robot.

Since Zhiyuan became popular, its financing experience has been widely concerned. In fact, Zhiyuan also has many foreign investment projects. Compared with "silently" conducting self - research, Zhiyuan Robot has always used investment and financing means to build a R & D and application cooperation ecosystem.

According to Qichacha, currently Zhiyuan Robot maintains a stable monthly investment rhythm of making foreign investments and participating in the establishment of joint - venture companies. So far, it has made a total of 19 foreign investments in companies related to the industrial chain, including Linghou Robot, Digital Huaxia, Tongtianqing Robot, Zhiding Robot...

Here is a recent example. On August 11th, industrial and commercial changes took place in Yushu Intelligence, and Zhiyuan Innovation was added as a shareholder.

Among them, the cooperation between Yushu and Zhiyuan began as early as June this year. Yushu Intelligence announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Zhiyuan Robot to establish the "Shenzhen Yushu Embodied Robot Innovation Center", focusing on data collection and technological innovation of embodied robots and laying the foundation for the general intelligent application of robots.

For Zhiyuan Robot, investing in Yushu Intelligence is expected to form a R & D chain of "technology R & D - product incubation - industrial collaboration". This R & D demand is closely related to Zhiyuan Robot's current hot product delivery and scenario application needs.

In addition, Zhiyuan Robot and Hillhouse Capital have long had a tacit understanding in the investment field.

The two have jointly invested in 3 companies successively, namely Fuxing Electromechanical, Qianjue Robot, and Lingchu Intelligence.

In September 2024, Fuxing Electromechanical received a joint investment from Zhiyuan Robot and Hillhouse Venture Capital; in October 2024 and March 2025, Qianjue Robot received angel - round and angel + round investments from Hillhouse Venture Capital and Zhiyuan Robot respectively; in October and November 2024, Lingchu Intelligence also received investments from Zhiyuan Robot and Hillhouse Venture Capital respectively. These joint investment actions not only reflect the consistency of Zhiyuan Robot and Hillhouse Capital in investment vision but also reflect their synergy in industrial layout.

Through investments in enterprises in different fields, Zhiyuan Robot is gradually building its own industrial ecosystem and making in - depth layouts in the upstream and downstream of the robot industrial chain.

In addition to these investments, on July 8th this year, Shangwei New Materials announced that Zhiyuan Robot would acquire 63.62% of its shares, which shocked the industry.

Although Zhiyuan Robot quickly denied the view of "back - door listing", the investment in Shangwei New Materials will not change its main business. However, Shangwei New Materials, which mainly engages in the R & D of environmental protection resins and other materials, obviously cannot be directly matched with the embodied intelligent - related industries. Amid the speculations of all parties, Zhiyuan Robot remained low - key and did not respond further.

An indisputable fact is that since 2025, as the mass production and application scale of Zhiyuan Robot's products have continued to expand, the company has begun to actively cooperate with listed companies, technology R & D companies in the same industry, and component manufacturers to layout the "production and R & D ecosystem".

From frequent foreign investments to the establishment of a new venture capital company with former investors, it seems that all this is traceable.

Build high walls and store up plenty of grain

From the frequent foreign investment behaviors, we can clearly sort out Zhiyuan Robot's unique strategic map. Its strategy can be summarized as: Build high walls and store up plenty of grain.

Among them, "build high walls" can be understood as Zhiyuan Robot building its own unique technological barriers, while "store up plenty of grain" means that Zhiyuan is accumulating funds through financing on the one hand and making foreign investments on the other hand to build its own industrial ecosystem.

It is worth mentioning that its investment layout is by no means a scattered financial investment but a series of ecological expansions closely centered around its own development needs. The core purpose is to quickly build an embodied intelligent robot industrial ecological alliance centered around itself through capital ties to solve the three ultimate problems of technological breakthrough, supply - chain stability, and market application.

Zhiyuan's investments are highly targeted and complementary. The primary goal is to make up for technological shortcomings and lock in the core supply chain.

Embodied intelligence is the in - depth integration of artificial intelligence and robot technology. Although Zhiyuan leads in AI algorithms and overall machine design, it is not strong in the traditional core hardware fields of robots, such as precision reducers, high - torque servo motors, and force - control sensors.

Through investments in companies such as Linghou Robot and Tongtianqing Robot, Zhiyuan is using capital to save time, directly acquiring and integrating the most advanced hardware technologies, and laying a solid foundation for the performance improvement, mass - production cost control, and supply - chain safety of its robots.

Data and algorithms are the cornerstones of general artificial intelligence and require a large amount of scenario data for continuous training. The establishment of the "Embodied Robot Innovation Center" with Yushu Intelligence is precisely to systematically solve the industry - wide problem of data collection and processing. This kind of investment is aimed at the future and aims to build an irreplaceable data barrier for the continuous iteration of algorithms.

From the perspective of technological synergy, Zhiyuan's "Yuanzheng" series is like a powerful "brain" responsible for high - level decision - making, but it needs a flexible "cerebellum" to execute fine actions. Investing in companies such as Qianjue Robot and Fuxing Electromechanical, which focus on mobile chassis or actuators for specific scenarios, can quickly enrich its product matrix and provide a complete "brain + cerebellum" solution for different application scenarios, thus forming a stronger overall competitiveness.

The ecological synergy effect generated by these investment behaviors has gradually transformed Zhiyuan from a technology - product company that "fights alone" into an ecological - level enterprise that "fights in a legion".

Investing in upstream component enterprises means that Zhiyuan can obtain priority supply rights and even deeply participate in the product design stage to achieve customized development of key components, thus ensuring the leading position of its products and the absolute safety of the supply chain in the fierce market competition.

At the market level, by investing in downstream application and solution companies such as Digital Huaxia and Zhiding Robot, Zhiyuan is actually cultivating "first - batch super users" and "industry benchmark cases" for itself. These invested enterprises will naturally give priority to using and integrating Zhiyuan's robots, becoming the best test field and publicity window for the implementation of its products, thus quickly entering and opening up multiple vertical industry markets.

This synergy is not only market expansion but also forms a technological feedback cycle of "investment - innovation - feedback - reinvestment". The technological breakthroughs and innovations of the invested enterprises in their respective fields will continuously converge to Zhiyuan through capital and cooperation ties, enabling it to always stand at the forefront of industry - technology integration.

Looking at its investment trajectory, Zhiyuan Robot's strategic ambition is already clear. It is rapidly evolving from a product company with excellent technology to an ecological - level enterprise aiming to define industry standards.

Through the powerful tool of capital, it is systematically integrating technology, supply chain, and market channels, trying to build a wide and deep moat on the eve of the full - scale explosion of the trillion - level embodied intelligent track.

All of this also precisely lays a logical foreshadowing for its joint capital increase to 55 million yuan with Hillhouse and the establishment of a professional venture capital company - a higher - level and more systematic capital operation.

What's the significance behind the establishment of the new company?

The increase in the capital contribution of Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation Venture Capital Partnership (Limited Partnership) from 5 million yuan to 55 million yuan, although seemingly a simple numerical increase, actually reflects the enterprise's strategic layout, capital confidence, and industry potential.

The initial capital contribution of 5 million yuan was more like a "trial - type" start - up fund, representing the enterprise's cautious exploration of the market in its early stage. In the stage of clarifying the investment direction and verifying the project model, a small amount of funds can reduce the cost of trial - and - error and at the same time leave a buffer space for team coordination and resource connection.

After the increase to 55 million yuan, the capital scale has increased tenfold, marking that the enterprise has officially entered the "large - scale operation" stage: on the one hand, sufficient funds can support a wider range of project screening, covering investments in unlisted enterprises from the angel - round to the Pre - A round, no longer limited to small - scale projects; on the other hand, a large amount of funds can increase the single - investment amount, providing "heavy - support" for high - quality start - up enterprises, enhancing the resource voice over the invested enterprises, and at the same time attracting more potential projects to actively connect, forming a positive cycle of "funds - projects".

From the perspective of the laws of the venture - capital industry, a capital contribution of 50 million yuan is the key threshold for small - and medium - sized venture - capital institutions to achieve "professional layout" - it can avoid the low management efficiency caused by the dispersion of small - scale funds and can flexibly meet the investment needs of different fields, especially suitable for the technology fields such as robots and artificial intelligence that Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation focuses on (start - up enterprises in these fields have high R & D investments and large capital needs and require continuous capital injection).

From the perspective of the shareholder structure, the core shareholders of Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation include Zhiyuan Robot (the industrial party) and Hillhouse Capital (the professional investor, with Shanghai Hillhouse Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd. acting as the executive partner). The joint capital injection of the two is essentially a manifestation of the strategic consensus between "industrial resources" and "capital capabilities".

For Zhiyuan Robot, the capital increase is an important step in its "industrial ecosystem layout". As a leading enterprise in the field of general embodied robots, Zhiyuan Robot needs to invest in start - up enterprises in the upstream and downstream to improve the industrial - chain layout - for example, investing in core component (such as servo motors and sensors) enterprises to ensure supply - chain stability and investing in scenario - application (such as industrial logistics and service - robot solutions) enterprises to expand the market boundary. The capital scale of 55 million yuan can support its full - chain investment around "robot body + AI algorithm + application scenario", avoiding missing key targets due to insufficient funds.

For Hillhouse Capital, the capital increase reflects its long - term optimism about the "technology venture - capital track". Hillhouse Capital has rich investment experience in the hard - technology field (it has jointly invested in Fuxing Electromechanical, Qianjue Robot, etc. with Zhiyuan Robot before). This additional investment in Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation is essentially a re - confirmation of the potential of the "robot + AI" track. With the aging population and the upgrading of industrial automation needs, the market for general embodied robots is on the verge of explosion, and there are a large number of technology - breakthrough - type targets among unlisted enterprises, which require large - scale capital investment in advance to seize industry dividends. Hillhouse's capital increase is not only a professional recognition of the investment team of Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation but also a strategic support for its positioning of focusing on "unlisted technology enterprises".

The increase in capital contribution not only means "being able to invest in more projects" but also represents an upgrade of the investment model from "single - capital support" to "ecological empowerment". For Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation, the 55 - million - yuan funds can be divided into two parts: "investment funds" and "empowerment resources".

From an industry perspective, the capital increase of Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation is a microcosm of the warming - up of the entire robot venture - capital track. Since 2025, the financing enthusiasm in the global robot field has continued to rise.

According to Xiniu Data statistics, in the first quarter of 2025, the global financing amount in the robot industry increased by 35% year - on - year, with the Chinese market accounting for more than 40%. The financing - amount growth rates in sub - fields such as general embodied robots and industrial intelligent robots even exceeded 50%.

In this context, the capital increase of Shanghai Lingzhi New Creation is essentially an active layout that "follows the industry trend".

This article is from the WeChat public account "Rongzhong Finance" (ID: thecapital), author: Wang Tao, editor: Wu Ren, published by 36Kr with permission.