After 15 rounds of financing, a Shenzhen unicorn is going to IPO.

After an eight-year, 15-round long financing journey, HAI Robotics has finally knocked on the door of the capital market and chosen to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

This company, headquartered in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, is not only a representative of technological innovation but also a favorite in the capital market. Since its establishment, HAI Robotics has completed 15 rounds of financing, with a cumulative financing amount of approximately 4.133 billion yuan. After the Series E financing, its valuation was about 10.9 billion yuan.

The list of its backer shareholders almost includes half of the mainstream venture capital circle: At the beginning of its establishment, the company received support from the XBOT PARK Fund (Songshan Lake Robotics Research Institute, formerly Hong Kong Clear Water Bay Venture Fund) led by Professors Li Zexiang, Gao Bingqiang, and Gan Jie. Subsequently, top-tier institutions such as Matrix Partners China, Source Code Capital, Sequoia China, Capital Today, IDG Capital, Walden International, General Atlantic, and the Qatar Investment Authority have successively joined in.

The "Persistent" Youth from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The story begins in Hong Kong in 2015.

At that time, 24-year-old Chen Yuqi was still a postgraduate at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. This science and engineering student who grew up in Jiangsu has a typical "Southern Jiangsu temperament" - gentle on the surface but stubborn inside. An anecdote from his student days is that during a robot experiment, a parameter couldn't reach the ideal state after three weeks of adjustment. Everyone in the group advised him to "just make do with it as the error is within the allowable range," but Chen Yuqi shook his head and locked himself in the laboratory for two more all-nighters.

This "persistence" later became the gene of HAI Robotics.

In his second year of postgraduate study, Chen Yuqi participated in a horizontal project on warehouse automation with his tutor. He witnessed the "human sea tactic" for the first time: hundreds of pickers pushing trolleys shuttled through a warehouse of tens of thousands of square meters, walking more than ten kilometers a day. Working overnight during the peak season was the norm. This gave Chen Yuqi the inspiration to start a business.

In 2016, Chen Yuqi founded HAI Robotics in Nanshan, Shenzhen, with several classmates. At that time, there were already many players in the warehouse robot track. The mainstream AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) solution was "shelf handling" - the robot would drive under the shelf, lift the entire shelf, and deliver it to the operator. This solution was relatively mature in technology and had high market recognition, making it easy for startups to get orders.

However, Chen Yuqi didn't follow this path. "Shelf handling wastes the upper space of the warehouse, and the storage density is not high enough," he said at the first team meeting. "What we are going to do is 'bin picking' - the robot climbs to the top of the shelf and picks the required bin instead of moving the whole shelf."

This decision was not well-received at that time. Because to achieve millimeter-level positioning accuracy on a 3-meter-high shelf and maintain stability during movement, there are only a handful of companies in the world that can do it.

From 2016 to 2018, HAI Robotics hardly made any public announcements. During this period, it faced difficulties such as prototype failures and the loss of R & D personnel. Founder Chen Yuqi once recalled that the first robot could only carry one bin at a time during the warehouse test, with extremely low efficiency, and the team was once in despair.

However, the results proved that Chen Yuqi's "persistence" in the product was worthwhile. By 2020, when HAI Robotics' "bin picking robots" began to be widely used by leading customers such as Best Supply Chain and SF DHL, the market finally recognized the value of this niche track. Compared with the traditional shelf handling solution, HAI's solution can increase the storage density by 80% - 130% and improve the picking efficiency by 3 - 4 times.

In 2025, HAI Robotics launched the HaiPick Climb, becoming the world's first single-sided climbing ACR solution to achieve large-scale commercialization in the ACR solution market. According to the data from CIC, the HaiPick Climb supports a storage height of up to 15 meters in both new and renovated warehouse facilities, which is the highest among similar products.

According to a report from CIC, based on the revenue and shipment volume in 2024, HAI Robotics is the world's largest ACR solution provider, with a market share of over 30%, leading the second-place by 5 percentage points.

From "Being Ignored" to a "Reward Feast"

If we take the valuation of HAI Robotics in the Pre - IPO round as an anchor point and look back on its eight-year financing history, the early supporters are starting to enter a reward feast.

In 2016, when founder Chen Yuqi was looking for angel investment in Shenzhen with the concept of "bin picking robots," the market was not interested in this niche track. At that time, the AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) track was already crowded, and most of the capital's attention was focused on players like Geek+ and Quicktron, which followed the "shelf handling" path.

The turning point came in 2017. CSC Capital and Walden International, as the investors in the Pre - A round, wrote the first crucial check. According to people close to the deal, the post - investment valuation at that time was less than 100 million yuan.

At that time, what they valued was not HAI's revenue but HAI's willingness to spend three years refining the product on the two "stubborn points" of "narrow aisles" and "high storage." CSC Capital, an early investor, described in a review: It was this "slow - paced effort" that made HAI the only player able to offer a mature solution when the high - density storage demand during e - commerce promotions exploded.

Based on the currently estimated IPO issuance price, CSC Capital's investment of about 20 million yuan in the Pre - A round corresponds to a valuation increase of more than 200 times. Even considering the subsequent dilution in multiple rounds, the book return of this investment is still expected to exceed 50 times.

Following closely, Source Code Capital heavily invested in the Series A round in 2018 and continued to increase its investment from the Series A to the Series C, with a cumulative investment of more than 100 million US dollars. If calculated based on the IPO valuation, the return multiple of Source Code's early position in the Series A round is conservatively estimated to be over 30 times.

In 2018, Huang Yunhe from Source Code Capital met Chen Yuqi for the first time. It was not a very pleasant conversation. The 28 - year - old Chen Yuqi had a strong science and engineering temperament, speaking directly without beating around the bush, and scoffing at the popular market concepts of "cloud warehouse" and "platformization." All he repeatedly emphasized was how to make the robot stably pick a small bin from a 3 - meter - high shelf.

"I thought this guy was too 'stubborn' at that time," Huang Yunhe recalled in an internal sharing. "But later I realized that this'stubbornness' is exactly the common characteristic of great entrepreneurs. He doesn't care what the competitors are doing but only cares if his product is better than yesterday."

He finally made the investment. In the following years, as HAI Robotics moved from productization to commercialization and from serving single customers to industry replication, Huang Yunhe witnessed Chen Yuqi's growth. At the critical moment of the Series D financing, when other investors were struggling with the valuation, Source Code led the investment again, responding to the market's doubts with real money.

By 2020, after HAI Robotics completed the implementation and verification with benchmark customers such as Best Supply Chain and SF DHL, the attitude of capital shifted from "whether to invest" to "whether they could invest."

Matrix Partners China entered the scene through the transfer of old shares and capital increase. Zhang Fei, a partner at Matrix Partners China, is one of the earliest investors in Kuaishou and has an almost obsessive attachment to the "network effect." While most people regarded HAI as a robot company, Zhang Fei saw another side.

"Every HAI robot running in the warehouse is updating the location, popularity, and picking frequency of goods in real - time," Zhang Fei publicly explained his investment logic at an industry forum. "When this data accumulates to a certain level, HAI can tell brand owners where to place their goods and how to allocate their inventory. At this time, it is no longer just a shovel - seller but someone who knows where the gold mine is."

It was this perception that made Matrix Partners bet continuously in the Series B and Series C rounds. Although HAI's valuation was not cheap at that time, Zhang Fei believed that HAI was still severely undervalued according to the valuation model of a "data company." Facts have proven that his prediction is becoming a reality.

Walden International, which focuses on semiconductors and hard - tech, also joined the game at the same time as Matrix Partners. As an old shareholder in the Pre - A round, its continuous investment is a strong signal of confidence.

In 2021, HAI Robotics completed the Series C and Series D financings co - led by Sequoia China and Matrix Partners China. Its valuation exceeded the one - billion - dollar mark, officially entering the unicorn club. Sequoia's entry means that top - tier financial capital has begun to recognize the replicability of its business model.

If the entry of Sequoia China and Matrix Partners China is a victory for financial capital, then the Series D+ investment by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) in 2022 added an international narrative to HAI's IPO.

The QIA rarely invests in Chinese hard - tech companies at an early stage, and its investment logic has always been "industry first." According to industry insiders' analysis, the QIA is interested in HAI's implementation scenarios in the "National Vision 2030" of the Middle East. As countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are vigorously promoting e - commerce and logistics infrastructure, HAI's automation solutions are a key piece in helping these countries achieve unmanned "desert warehousing."

Although the valuation of this round of financing did not skyrocket compared with the previous round, its strategic significance is far greater than the financial return. The endorsement of the sovereign fund gives HAI a credit boost in obtaining subsequent overseas orders.

Before the IPO, Matrix Partners China holds a total of 14.53% of HAI Robotics' shares, making it the largest external shareholder; General Atlantic holds 12.06%; Source Code Capital holds a total of 10.85%; Capital Today holds a total of 10.79%; IDG Capital holds 5.78%; Sequoia China holds a total of 4.56%; and the XBOT PARK Fund (Songshan Lake Robotics Research Institute) holds 0.22%.

The "Long - Distance Race" Continues After the IPO

The data doesn't lie. According to the prospectus, in 2023, 2024, and the first nine months of 2025, HAI Robotics' operating revenues reached 807 million yuan, 1.36 billion yuan, and 1.263 billion yuan respectively. Among them, the year - on - year increase in 2024 was as high as 68.6%, ranking first in terms of growth rate among the world's top three ACR companies.

Another notable data point is that during the reporting period, the proportion of revenue from markets outside the Chinese mainland climbed from 24.2% to 39.6%. As of the nine - month period ending September 30, 2025, the overseas order volume exceeded half for the first time, accounting for more than 50% of the total order volume. This set of data means that HAI Robotics' industry positioning is evolving from a "Chinese company doing overseas business" to a "global company headquartered in China," which also implies a valuation difference between the two positions.

As the IPO approaches, the market's voices are starting to diverge.

The optimists believe that HAI Robotics' moat remains solid. The penetration rate of warehouse automation in China is still less than 5%. Compared with the already highly competitive AGV field, bin - picking robots have higher technical thresholds and a deeper degree of customization. It is almost an impossible task for latecomers to replicate the scenario data that HAI has accumulated over eight years in the short term.

What makes the optimists even more at ease is the quality of the overseas business: In 2023, the proportion of overseas revenue jumped from 10% in 2021 to 35%, and the gross profit margin of this business is much higher than that in the domestic market. In the valuation logic of the capital market, high - margin and high - barrier overseas revenue is obviously more valuable.

The cautious group sees the dark side. First, the involution is spreading. Old competitors like Geek+ and Quicktron have launched competing products, and the smoke of the price war has drifted from the AGV track to the ACR field. Second, in terms of the customer structure, the e - commerce and logistics express industries are HAI's mainstay, but the capital expenditure of these industries is extremely sensitive to the macro - economy. Once customers tighten their budgets, equipment procurement is often the first item to be cut.

There is also a major variable from the capital market itself. Since the second half of 2025, the industrial robot track has suddenly become crowded. More than 10 companies in the same track, such as Geek+, Youibot, Jizhi Technology, and Mech-Mind Robotics, have successively submitted their listing applications to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. As the leading company in the niche market, although HAI Robotics has a first - mover advantage and economies of scale, it must also face a cruel reality. When the competitors have all obtained ammunition in the capital market, the way of fighting this war will change.

HAI Robotics is well aware of this. In the prospectus, its use of the raised funds is clearly stated: part is for improving technological capabilities, accelerating the upgrade of ACR solutions, software algorithms, and the new - generation technology stack; part is for expanding global manufacturing operations, strengthening the resilience, scalability, and quality consistency of the supply chain system; and part is for enhancing the global business reach, service capabilities, as well as the talent base and organizational capabilities.

In plain language, it means: hold on to the technology, stabilize the supply chain, continue to expand overseas, and keep recruiting talent.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Dongsi Shitiao Capital" (ID: DsstCapital), written by Li Man and edited by Wang Qingwu. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.