There is a shortage of millions of welders. This intelligent robot company specializing in AI mechanical welders has raised over 100 million yuan in financing | Exclusive report from 36Kr

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Yuan Silai

Hard Kr has learned that "Shenshi Weisheng" recently announced the completion of a new round of financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan. The investors include multiple institutions such as Zhongke Xinkong, Linchuang Sinan Fund, Xingsheng Equity, Jiayou Fund, Dingsheng New Kinetic Energy Fund, and Jiaxing Xinglü. This round of financing will be mainly used for the iteration and data training of the embodied AI model, as well as market promotion and channel construction.

Founded in 2020, "Shenshi Weisheng" is a company focusing on embodied intelligent robots in the vertical welding scenario. It provides manufacturing enterprises with "mechanical welders" with autonomous perception, decision - making, and execution capabilities, and is committed to solving industry pain points such as the shortage of welders and harsh working environments. The company is a national high - tech enterprise, a specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative enterprise in Shanghai, and a benchmark enterprise in intelligent robots. It owns more than 100 intellectual property rights.

It is worth noting that "Shenshi Weisheng" acquired Harbin Institute of Technology Modern Robot Co., Ltd. in 2022. It is currently one of the few intelligent robot companies in China with the independent core capabilities of "AI algorithm + welding process + robot body". Its holding subsidiary, Harbin Institute of Technology Modern, has a smart factory in Haining, Zhejiang, with an annual production capacity of 1,000 robots and a cumulative shipment of more than 5,000 units.

Second - generation machine: Embodied intelligent welding workstation (cantilever type) (Source: Enterprise)

The company's product line is divided into three generations: The first generation is general - purpose industrial robots; the second generation is intelligent welding robots with AI recognition and 3D reconstruction capabilities, enabling teaching - free and one - key start; the third generation is autonomous mobile welding robots, supporting wheeled and multi - legged forms, further expanding flexible operation scenarios. Currently, the second - generation products have been shipped in batches, and the third - generation wheeled products have also been launched in the market in stages.

Actually, as the largest segmented market for industrial robots, welding is facing a serious labor shortage. Third - party data shows that by 2025, the shortage of welders in China is expected to reach 5 million, and it will expand to 10 million by 2035. In the field of non - standard part welding, the penetration rate of intelligent equipment is still less than 20%, presenting a vast blue - ocean market.

"Currently, the biggest pain point in the industry is the insufficient intelligence level of products," Wang Dezhao, the founder and CEO of Shenshi Weisheng, told Hard Kr. "Intelligence is a very comprehensive manifestation. Breaking it down, it means there are deficiencies in aspects such as the reachability, efficiency, and quality of welding. The entire industry needs more advanced models and more data training to iterate products."

The core advantage of "Shenshi Weisheng" lies in its "trinity" closed - loop capabilities: "Most players in the industry only have one or two of these capabilities, while we independently develop and deeply integrate everything from robot body design and manufacturing, to embodied AI models, and then to welding process data."

"Shenshi Weisheng" adopts the path of an "end - to - end embodied AI model". Through multi - modal large - scale models for vertical welding, it trains robots to understand welding tasks, enabling them to have stronger adaptability and advanced functions under non - standard and complex working conditions, such as real - time molten pool tracking and dynamic process adjustment.

In terms of market strategy, "Shenshi Weisheng" promotes sales through a "three - pronged" model: agent sales by integrators, direct contracts with end - users, and robot labor services. Its customers cover large state - owned enterprises and manufacturing leaders such as China Railway, Baosteel, State Grid, CRRC, and SAIC.

    First - generation machine: Laser welding workstation (Source: Enterprise)

The annual revenue growth rate of "Shenshi Weisheng" in the past three years has exceeded 50%, and it is expected to exceed 100 million yuan in 2025. Since all core aspects are self - developed, the company "has an advantage in cost". Currently, R & D personnel account for more than 50% of the team, and R & D investment accounts for about 30% of the revenue.

Next, Wang Dezhao said: "Shenshi Weisheng" will continue to deeply cultivate the welding scenario. After establishing itself as the industry leader, it will gradually expand to other industrial manufacturing links. In the future, the company will also plan to go global, focusing on markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Japan, and South Korea.

"The company is currently focused on embodied intelligence in the vertical welding scenario, providing in - depth services for the production and manufacturing links of factories. Only by thoroughly understanding the welding process can we truly do well in robots for vertical scenarios," Wang Dezhao said.

Views of investors:

Wang Zhao, the person - in - charge of Beijing Zhongke Xinkong, said: Embodied intelligent welding robots are a typical application of artificial intelligence equipment in the industrial field, with a rigid market demand and huge market space both at home and abroad. By combining AI with industrial robots, in the welding production process, it can improve the accuracy and efficiency of traditional welding, effectively reduce labor costs, and promote the high - quality development of the manufacturing industry. Our participation in Shenshi Weisheng is because we are optimistic about Shenshi Weisheng's years of mature technology accumulation in the field of welding robots and its development direction in AI - embodied intelligent industrial robots. We also hope that with Zhongke Xinkong's industrial foundation and technological advantages in computing power, artificial intelligence applications, and robot training platforms as support, we can promote Shenshi Weisheng to maintain its leading edge in the segmented application field of intelligent welding and jointly build a leading enterprise in embodied intelligent welding robots.

The investment team of Linchuang Sinan said: From a market perspective, the production environment for steel structure welding is poor, and high welding experience is required. The new generation of young people are less willing to be welders, but the demand for welders continues to increase, leading to a continuous expansion of the welder shortage. The demand for machine replacement in non - standard scenarios such as steel structures and ships is urgent, and the trend of welding intelligence is obvious.

"Shenshi Weisheng" is one of the few intelligent welding robot manufacturers in China with a robot body production factory, truly realizing the trinity of robot body + AI + welding process. From a technical perspective, most welding intelligent robot companies in the market mainly focus on software development and do not have mature robot body products and R & D capabilities. However, "Shenshi Weisheng" has the ability to produce the robot body. The team has broken through the technical bottleneck of the underlying connection between vision and the robot body and achieved global three - dimensional high - precision reverse reconstruction. We are extremely looking forward to and firmly believe that the team will continue to move forward in future work, continuously break through technological boundaries in vertical AI scenarios, and lead the wave of welding intelligence.

Su Chuang, the person - in - charge of Jiayou Fund, said: The investment community has reached a general consensus on investing in AI and robots, but there are widespread differences on which specific application scenarios to invest in. Welding is one of the main occupations, with a large market space. In the field of standard welding, robot companies led by the "Four Big Families" have emerged. Shenshi Weisheng has effectively overcome various difficulties in non - standard welding using AI and is expected to become a platform - type welding company.