Former Volvo and Jidu teams reunite to reshape agricultural machinery with automotive robot technology | Exclusive from 36Kr

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Yuan Silai

Yingke has learned that the agricultural AI robot company "CMW ROBOTICS" recently completed a Pre - A round of financing worth several tens of millions of yuan. We have summarized the information of this round of financing and several highlights of the company:

Financing Amount and Leading Investor

Financing Amount: Several tens of millions of RMB

Financing Round: Pre - A Round

Investor: Zaozhuang High - tech Zone Government Fund

Use of Funds: The funds will be mainly used for team building and the development and mass - production preparation of the first - generation products

Basic Company Information

Establishment Time: 2024

Headquarters: Shandong

Core Product: ET11 (internal code), a small multi - functional electric intelligent tractor platform with a designed power of 30kW. This platform product will have agricultural - grade autonomous driving capabilities based on vision and radar and be equipped with an end - side agricultural AI model.

Technological Highlights: Based on the technologies in the fields of intelligent vehicles and robots, the team has built a native electrified platform and an intelligent operating system for agricultural scenarios, with an electronic and electrical architecture deeply adapted to agricultural operations, a high - precision navigation and intelligent driving system, and will integrate a self - developed end - side agricultural AI model. In addition, the company has introduced a mature and high - standard passenger car supply chain and manufacturing system into the agricultural machinery field to ensure that the products have a high starting point in terms of performance and reliability. 

The company's first - generation products focus on electrification and more practical intelligence. On the basis of achieving zero emissions, low noise, and low operating costs, they provide practical functions such as remote - controlled operation, OTA, and remote diagnosis, striking a balance between innovation and reliability and avoiding sacrificing practicality and reliability due to excessive pursuit of unmanned operation.

Application Scenarios: CMW ROBOTICS focuses on high - value agricultural scenarios such as orchards, greenhouses, and pastures. It targets the overseas high - end market as the main target and simultaneously conducts demonstration operations in China. Through modular and platform - based design, it can be flexibly adapted to various operation requirements and implement expansions.

Market Size

According to the prediction of a third - party institution, the global agricultural machinery market is expected to reach 180 billion US dollars in 2025, and the Chinese market will be about 55 billion US dollars. Among them, tractors, as the "mother machines of agriculture", account for more than 50%. At the same time, the average annual growth rate of electric tractors exceeds 25%, and small tractors under 40 horsepower account for more than 60%, which is the potential market that CMW ROBOTICS is entering.

The founder, Ma Huan, believes that the global agricultural machinery industry is at a clear turning point of electrification and intelligence. China has a global leading advantage in the new energy vehicle industry chain, intelligent talents, and the implementation of AI technology, which provides important opportunities for teams with cross - field technology integration capabilities.

Company Performance

CMW ROBOTICS is currently still in the product R & D and testing verification stage and has not yet achieved commercial sales. At present, the company has launched small - batch trial production, plans to conduct customer scenario tests by the end of the first quarter of 2026, and simultaneously promotes the pre - expansion of domestic and overseas markets and ecological cooperation.

Team Background

Ma Huan, the founder and CEO of the company, has 20 years of experience in the automotive industry. He once worked at Volvo Cars and later founded and led Aohua Automation (later merged into Shanghai Electric) as a co - founder. Zhao Heng, the co - founder and CTO, once served as a senior R & D executive at Volvo and Jidu Auto. The core team consists of software and hardware R & D talents from well - known car companies such as Volvo, Volkswagen, NIO, and Jidu, as well as experts in the fields of robotics and high - end manufacturing. On this basis, the team has systematically introduced agricultural professionals with experience in agricultural machinery, agronomy, and the industry, forming a unique structure of "deep integration of cutting - edge technology R & D and agricultural industry practice" and ensuring a closed - loop ability in the entire chain from product definition to commercial implementation. 

Founder's Thoughts

Yingke: Why did you choose the agricultural robot track and enter the agricultural field with small electric intelligent tractors, focusing on cash crop scenarios?

Ma Huan: We chose agricultural robots as our primary direction based on our judgment of two trends: First, cutting - edge technologies represented by AI and robots are looking for real - world industries where they can generate great value. Second, agriculture, as the fundamental industry for the survival and development of human society, is facing global challenges in terms of efficiency improvement and sustainable development. This is an area that is both strategically important and urgently needed.

Currently, agriculture urgently needs new solutions in terms of labor, production models, and resource management. We have noticed that the agricultural machinery field is at a critical window period of electrification and intelligence, with a very low electrification penetration rate and a huge gap in technology and user experience. This is an excellent opportunity for teams with cross - border technology and supply chain integration capabilities. We chose cash crop scenarios such as orchards, greenhouses, and pastures because the practitioners in these fields are relatively young, have a high acceptance of new technologies, and have stronger payment capabilities and a greater demand for quality improvement and efficiency enhancement.

We believe that technological changes represented by intelligent robots can bring a real leap in productivity to agriculture.
 

Yingke: The competitive pressure for agricultural machinery overseas is quite high. What are the differentiated advantages of the company's technology compared with domestic and overseas peers?

Ma Huan: We prefer to see ourselves as one of the participants and promoters of the agricultural intelligence transformation. Globally, China has significant advantages in the electrification supply chain, intelligent manufacturing efficiency, and AI application implementation, which allows us to quickly deliver high - performance and reliable electric intelligent agricultural machinery products at a sustainable cost.

It should be emphasized that we are not making electrification modifications based on traditional agricultural machinery but are conducting forward - looking development with the concept of intelligent robots. We have built a native electrified platform, an intelligent robot operating system, an end - side AI model, and an open ecological architecture that are deeply matched to agricultural scenarios. We look forward to jointly promoting the electrification and intelligence upgrade of agriculture with industry partners.

Yingke: In China, there are challenges such as the solid traditional agricultural machinery sales channels and the difficulty of popularizing intelligence. How do you deal with them?

Ma Huan: We have seen clear trend changes. The new generation of agricultural operators grew up in the digital age. They are more inclined to use technology to improve production efficiency and work experience and have also obtained higher value returns through new agricultural models. Our products are designed to be in line with this trend in terms of design, experience, and intelligence.

In the short term, we will not pursue full - scale unmanned operation all at once. Instead, we will build the trust of the first - batch users through the immediate benefits brought by electrification, such as significantly reduced energy consumption and maintenance costs, better control experience, and zero emissions. In terms of market strategy, in the initial stage, we will focus more on overseas markets with developed agriculture and strong purchasing power, while growing together with the new generation of agricultural operators in China.

Investor's Thoughts

Xiang Bin, the general manager of Zaozhuang High - tech Industrial Investment, said: Zaozhuang High - tech Industrial Investment is an investment platform under Zaozhuang City, specifically serving the industrial layout of Zaozhuang High - tech Zone. We established a close cooperative relationship with Keke Capital many years ago. This time, recommended by Keke Capital, CMW ROBOTICS, which was invested and incubated by it, was officially settled in Zaozhuang High - tech Zone. To support the establishment of the production base, Zaozhuang High - tech Industrial Investment provided corresponding equity investment. We know that the competitiveness of China's agricultural machinery industry in the international market is seriously disproportionate to China's position as the world's second - largest economy. Following in the footsteps of the passenger car industry, the global agricultural machinery industry is also facing the opportunity of electrification and intelligence transformation and upgrading, which is undoubtedly a good opportunity for China's agricultural machinery industry to overtake on a curve. As we all know, China's new energy and artificial intelligence industries have unparalleled competitive advantages globally. Therefore, industry insiders firmly believe that the mass - production of the new generation of electric agricultural machinery will surely happen in China. CMW ROBOTICS has seized this historical opportunity. The main founding members are executives from Aohua Automation, Volvo, and Jidu Auto. The first - phase factory has been built and put into operation in Zaozhuang High - tech Zone. We look forward to it becoming the world's first mass - produced intelligent agricultural machinery product.