The female president invested by big manufacturers rang the bell, and the market value soared to nearly 10 billion at the opening.
"I love this robot so much! It even asks for group photos!"
In August this year, basketball star Stephon Marbury, who has lived in China for a long time, posted a short video highly praising the food delivery robot in the hotel. Like him, in the wave of China Travel that has become popular around the world, hotel robots have also attracted the attention of many foreign tourists.
What has become the "traffic code" for foreigners is already a common sight for the Chinese. Behind the robots gradually entering hotels across the country is an industrial landscape with a potential scale of hundreds of billions.
In September, Yunji Technology submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to become the "first hotel robot stock." It was officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on October 16. After the listing, its market value once approached HK$10 billion.
The prospectus shows that Yunji Technology was founded in 2014. Its revenue in 2024 was 245 million yuan, ranking first in the robot service intelligent agent market. As of the first five months of 2025, more than 34,000 hotels had cooperated with Yunji Technology, including well - known brands such as Marriott, InterContinental, Hyatt, and Atour, as well as 150 hospitals.
Although Yunji Technology's profits have been negative in the past three years (from 2022 to 2024) and the cumulative loss has exceeded 800 million yuan, the loss has narrowed and the gross profit has continued to increase. This listing may provide Yunji Technology with room for manoeuvre.
Standing at the forefront of the trends of embodied intelligence and AI, companies such as Ninebot, Pudu Technology, and Keenon Robotics have successively entered the hotel scenario. How Yunji Technology makes good use of the "ammunition" it has obtained will determine its position in this market worth hundreds of billions.
Vertical Scenarios, Hardware - Software Synergy
Yunji Technology's products can be simply divided into two parts: hardware and software.
The hardware refers to the robot products launched by Yunji Technology, including three models: the UP series, the "Run" series, and the "Gege" series.
Among them, the "Run" series is an entry - level product in the "whole - machine robot" category. Since 2021, it has been gradually replaced by the new - generation "Gege" series. The prospectus shows that 6,358 units of the "Gege" series were sold in 2024, with a total sales volume of 133 million yuan, making it the current sales leader of Yunji Technology.
The latest UP series belongs to the "composite polymorphic robot", which can adapt to various scenarios by replacing the tool compartment. In addition to delivering takeaways and express deliveries to hotel rooms, it can also be used as a disinfection device. Yunji Technology has also developed intelligent vending machines compatible with the robots. After consumers place orders remotely, the robots will automatically complete the whole process of picking up and delivering goods.
The "Gege" series robots under Yunji Technology
The software is a robot AI operating system called YJ - ROS and some customized applications, which help enterprises optimize operations and improve service efficiency.
The prospectus shows that the proportion of Yunji Technology's software business in the total revenue has increased year by year from 16.4% in 2022 to 22.8% in 2024. The gross profit margin of this part of the business reaches 61.5%, far higher than the 38.1% of the hardware part.
Within Yunji Technology, this "hardware - software synergy" approach is called RaaS - Robot as a Service.
For a robot enterprise, the implementation scenario is very important. For Yunji Technology, B - end customers, mainly hotels, are its primary source of income. As of the first five months of 2025, more than 34,000 hotels had cooperated with it, mostly located in first - tier and new first - tier cities, including well - known hotel and tourism groups such as Marriott, InterContinental, Hyatt, and Atour.
There are reasons for choosing this scenario. According to Frost & Sullivan data, if the procurement demand for robot services from all facilities in China is fully met, it will cultivate an ultra - large market worth 938.2 billion yuan. Among them, the hotel sector accounts for 420.2 billion yuan, making it a must - compete area for all robot enterprises.
In this highly potential scenario, Yunji Technology holds a 13.9% market share, ranking first in the industry. It is estimated that by 2029, the market scale of China's robot service intelligent agent market will reach 1.35 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 29.3%.
Entrepreneurship at the Forefront of Trends, Favored by Capital
Zhi Tao, the founder of Yunji Technology, has the halo of an "outstanding student."
Data shows that Zhi Tao was born in 1972 and graduated from Xi'an Jiaotong University with a major in engineering. She is a female engineer with many years of entrepreneurial experience. An investor once commented that she is "a rare combination of a technical expert and a business expert." In 2014, Zhi Tao, together with several senior AI experts such as Wu Minghui and Hu Quan, founded Yunji Technology.
Looking back at 2014, this decision was highly forward - looking as it bet on both the embodied intelligence and AI trends.
However, pioneers are often misunderstood. Zhi Tao recalled that she once visited many hotels with the newly developed robot prototype but only received the response of "no need." It wasn't until 2020 that the market demand began to explode, and Yunji Technology received orders from thousands of hotels.
Zhi Tao (right), the founder, chairperson, and president of Yunji Technology
Despite the difficult start, due to its clear commercialization path, Yunji Technology has always been favored by capital. It received 7.5 million yuan in angel investment at the beginning of its establishment and completed seven rounds of financing from Series A to Series D in the following seven years. The investors include Alibaba, Tencent, Lenovo, etc., with a total financing amount of more than 1.2 billion yuan.
The high - level investment has indeed translated into technological accumulation. Yunji Technology listed various core technologies in its prospectus: navigation and perception systems, cognitive decision - making driven by logical reasoning and knowledge graphs, self - evolving learning and closed - loop feedback optimization systems...
However, from technological output to commercial implementation, and then to market occupation and return on investment, robot enterprises always have to go through a long cycle. Profitability is a matter of life and death for Yunji Technology.
In 2022, Yunji Technology tried to list on the A - share market but failed because it had not yet made a profit and did not meet the listing requirements. Three years later, the company turned to the Hong Kong stock market and successfully completed an IPO under the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's Rule 18C (which allows unprofitable technology companies to list), obtaining capital for continued development.
It is not an exaggeration to describe this IPO as "life - saving": during the seven - year financing process, Yunji Technology signed gambling clauses with various investors. If it fails to list on schedule, it will face a huge redemption liability of 1.925 billion yuan, which is enough to crush Yunji Technology's cash flow.
However, the IPO can only relieve Yunji Technology's immediate problems. Only by achieving profitability can the commercialization model of hotel robots be truly successful.
Increasing Competition, Exploration of New Growth
The prospectus shows that Yunji Technology's profits have been negative in the past three years.
From 2022 to 2024, Yunji Technology's losses were 365 million yuan, 265 million yuan, and 185 million yuan respectively, and the loss has narrowed. However, in the first five months of 2025, the total loss reached 119 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 41%.
The market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. With the explosion of demand for hotel robots, the clear market dividends have attracted a large number of enterprises to enter the market. In addition to "old rivals" such as Keenon Robotics and Pudu Technology, new players like Ninebot, which started with electric vehicles, are also encroaching on Yunji Technology's territory.
Facing the encirclement of these opponents, Yunji Technology's strategy is to "upgrade products" and "exchange price for volume." It has launched new models of the "Gege" and UP series and cleared the inventory of the "Run" series at a lower price.
Data shows that in 2016, the first hotel delivery robot sold by Yunji Technology was priced at over 130,000 yuan. Now, the prices of the three series of products range from 13,100 yuan to 20,900 yuan. Although the "price war" has helped it maintain its industry position, it has also weakened its profitability.
However, the popularity of the embodied intelligence and AI sectors is obvious to all. In August this year, the State Council proposed in the "Opinions on Deeply Implementing the 'Artificial Intelligence +' Initiative" that by 2027, AI will be deeply integrated with six key sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, and consumption, and the penetration rate of new - generation intelligent terminals and intelligent agents will reach over 70%.
A wave of "listing tides" of robot enterprises, including Yunji Technology, is emerging.
In 2023, UBTech Robotics, the "first humanoid robot stock," listed on the Hong Kong stock market with a total market value of over HK$60 billion; the following year, Yuejiang Technology, the "first collaborative robot stock," listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and its market value once reached HK$30 billion. Since this year, the IPO progress of related companies such as Hikrobot and Youdi has also attracted frequent attention.
To stay ahead of its competitors, Yunji Technology urgently needs to find new growth points. Whether it is the overseas hotel and tourism business or special scenarios such as factories and healthcare are new directions it is trying to explore. It is reported that the UP series robot intelligent service agents of the company have been implemented in Bangkok Hospital in Thailand.
Of course, exploring these scenarios is not an overnight task. Yunji Technology's future development path will answer the most cutting - edge questions about embodied intelligence in the market: What is the upper limit of the commercial robot business? Besides delivering takeaways, snacks, and toothbrushes to customers, how can it become part of the digital transformation of hotels? The future development trend of robots should be to truly integrate into hotel operations and make services more intelligent.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Contemporary Business World", author: Contemporary Business. Republished by 36Kr with permission.