"Great Friend" of AGI just went public via IPO.

After more than a decade of development, Laifu Harmonic finally successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. As soon as the market opened, its market value exceeded HK$9 billion.

Under the leadership of Zhang Jie, a post - 90s entrepreneur from a manufacturing family, this provider of core components for precision transmission of robots started from Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Relying on products such as high - precision harmonic reducers, it has won the favor of customers such as Zhiyuan Robotics, Ubtech, and Beijing Humanoid Robotics.

Along the way, Laifu Harmonic's financing has reached Series F.

After long - term companionship, investors such as Northern Light Venture Capital, Rushan Capital, Jinpu Investment, Guozhong Capital, United Creation and Everlasting Capital, CECIC, Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, Hongwei Capital, China Development Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund, Shanghai Hongyu Aviation Fund, Pro Capital, and Runfang Investment have also reached the harvest moment.

A post - 90s "second - generation entrepreneur" built a star company in Zhejiang

The story of Laifu Harmonic began in 2013.

At that time, Zhang Jie, a post - 90s, had just graduated from Beijing Wuzi University and was pursuing a master's degree at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the United States. In the view of Zhang Jie, who had long studied business administration, Xinhua Bearing, the family business with years of experience in the bearing field, needed to transform and upgrade, and set its sights on high - end and sophisticated manufacturing.

Introduced by the local science and technology bureau, Xinhua Bearing in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, introduced the harmonic reducer technology from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology. Finally, they established Laifu Harmonic in the local area in November 2013 and focused on the harmonic reducer in the core components of robots.

Simply put, a harmonic reducer is a high - precision transmission device used to reduce speed and increase torque, which can provide smooth and precise movement for humanoid robots, industrial robots, automation equipment, etc.

"At that time, we saw that the robot industry would have an explosive growth, so we chose to develop robot harmonic reducers." In 2015, after obtaining his master's degree, Zhang Jie took over the company's management from his family. In the process of leading Laifu Harmonic forward, he took advantage of the rapid development of China's robot industry.

Facing the monopoly position of foreign companies in the global market, Laifu Harmonic took breaking through technological barriers as its primary goal. In the early stage of development, they invested a large amount of funds in materials, tooth profiles, processes, greases, anti - fatigue manufacturing, etc. Finally, they developed domestic harmonic reducers with core performance comparable to that of overseas leading manufacturers.

In 2017, the company successfully achieved mass production of harmonic reducers and accelerated the improvement of products. In addition to developing joint modules that combine harmonic reducers with motors and encoders, Laifu Harmonic also launched robotic arms composed of joint modules and built production lines based on workstations.

To date, they not only have hundreds of SKUs but also can provide full - size harmonic reducers from 13 mm to 246 mm, with a cumulative sales volume of over one million units. Although the cumulative loss in the past three years has exceeded 500 million yuan, the company's revenue during the same period has continued to increase with market recognition, rising from less than 100 million yuan in 2023 to over 260 million yuan in 2025.

This has also made them more and more famous in the industry. In the words of CIC, whether calculated by the sales volume of over 290,000 units in 2025 or measured by the revenue of that year, Laifu Harmonic ranks among the top in China's robot harmonic reducer providers, taking the second place.

9 years, all the way to Series F financing

With the support of investors, Laifu Harmonic has reached Series F financing.

Thanks to the foundation of the family business, the company did not officially introduce external shareholders until July 2017. At that time, they received 10 million yuan from Rushan Capital and others, and the post - investment valuation reached 100 million yuan.

As the harmonic reducer entered the mass - production stage, they completed Series B financing in December 2017, with Northern Light Venture Capital and Rushan Capital as the investors. Half a year later, Northern Light Venture Capital invested again, together with Jinpu Investment, in Laifu Harmonic. This means that Northern Light Venture Capital invested a total of 43.5 million yuan in this company in a short period.

The optimism about Laifu Harmonic is inseparable from Northern Light Venture Capital's in - depth exploration of the track. Since 2012, this investment institution has been systematically paying attention to China's industrial robots and judged that this field needs a relatively complete domestic industrial chain to support, and finally chose to bet on the key components of the upstream supply chain.

"The overall market of industrial robots will grow. No matter how the downstream complete machines compete, the demand for upstream components always exists." According to Huang He, a partner of Northern Light Venture Capital, the harmonic field in China was far from mature at that time. Laifu Harmonic, led by Zhang Jie, a young entrepreneur from a manufacturing family with outstanding learning ability, had a greater chance of success.

The precious funds obtained in the early stage of development enabled Laifu Harmonic to develop rapidly. After the product was iterated and the production capacity was improved, their revenue in 2019 increased rapidly. At that time, Guozhong Capital and United Creation and Everlasting Capital invested 50 million and 30 million yuan respectively and became shareholders of the company one after another.

During the expansion of collaborative robots, investors' understanding of the harmonic reducer industry gradually deepened, which also attracted more attention to Laifu Harmonic. In November 2021, the company with a soaring product shipment volume completed Series E financing, with CECIC and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group as the investors. Soon after, they received investment from Hongwei Capital.

Wang Guangxi, the vice - president of Lenovo Group and the managing partner of Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, once said bluntly that Laifu Harmonic has mastered the independent R & D of a series of key components of harmonic reducers and the mass production of products through in - depth research on harmonic transmission, achieving a technological breakthrough in this key component.

In 2022, they completed the R & D of joint modules and produced samples, and the cross - roller bearings produced independently began to be used in large quantities. It was also in that year that Laifu Harmonic completed Series F financing, with investors including China Development Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund, Shanghai Hongyu Aviation Fund, Pro Capital, and Runfang Investment. The post - investment valuation also reached 1.5 billion yuan.

With the ringing of the listing bell, these investors who have accompanied Laifu Harmonic for a long time have finally reached the harvest moment.

In the field of humanoid robots, mass - producing IPOs

Looking around, from components to complete machines, players in the humanoid robot track are queuing up for IPOs.

Not long ago, Xinjian Transmission, a humanoid robot supplier, completed the listing guidance. In addition, Lingxin Qiaoshou, a dexterous hand enterprise, was reported to be preparing for an IPO in Hong Kong. As for humanoid robot companies such as Unitree Robotics, Leju Intelligence, and Yun Shenchu Technology, they are collectively rushing towards the A - share market.

Meanwhile, players such as Zhiyuan Robotics, Galaxy General, Fourier Intelligence, Xinghaitu, Songyan Power, Zhipingfang, and Zhongqing Robotics, which have completed the shareholding reform, are also accelerating the progress of IPOs.

Among them, Unitree Robotics is leading in the listing progress and is about to become the "first humanoid robot stock" on the A - share market. From the acceptance on March 20th to the passing of the review on June 1st, the company only took 73 days, breaking the record of the time from acceptance to passing the review of IPOs on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in recent years.

Under the leadership of Wang Xingxing, a post - 90s, Unitree Robotics ranked first in the global humanoid robot shipment volume in 2025 and has continuously achieved large - scale profitability. Looking through the prospectus, their revenue in 2025 reached 1.699 billion yuan, and the net profit after deducting non - recurring gains and losses was nearly 591 million yuan.

After receiving support from Sequoia Capital China, Tencent, Alibaba, Ant Group, Meituan Longzhu, Shenzhen Capital Group, Zhongguancun Science City, Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Matrix Partners China, Vertex Ventures, Source Code Capital, Shunwei Capital, Jinqiu Fund, China Internet Investment Fund, Beijing Robot Industry Investment Fund, etc., the valuation of Unitree Robotics exceeded 12 billion yuan.

Another company that has received a lot of attention recently is Lingxin Qiaoshou. Founded by Zhou Yong, an alumnus of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, this company completed 7 rounds of financing in about one year starting from April 2025. According to media reports, the target valuation of their latest round of financing soared to 6 billion US dollars, twice the valuation of the previous round of financing.

Along the way, Sequoia Capital China, Wankai New Materials, Ant Group, CICC Capital, Shanghai Semiconductor Equipment Fund, Jingguorui, Bojia Capital, Zhejiang Innovation Investment, Deqing Industrial Investment, CDH Baifu, Leju Intelligence, Aux, CGV Capital, Daode Investment, Shengshi Investment, Xinding Capital, Zhongguancun Science City Fund, Fosun Capital, etc., have all become shareholders of Lingxin Qiaoshou.

As players collectively sprint for listing, the entire humanoid robot industry chain has attracted more attention. Maybe it won't be long before people will witness one IPO after another being born in this track.

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