Start-up company receives large amounts of financing, global discussions about universal humanoid robots continuing.
Recently, it is reported that intelligent robot company Unitree has announced the completion of its B2 round of financing, raising nearly 1 billion yuan. The new investors include Meituan, Jinshi Investment, and Source Code, while old shareholders like Shenzhen Venture Capital, China Internet Investment, and Rongyi have also joined in. Unitree stated that this round of financing will mainly be directed towards R&D, business expansion, and team construction.
Unitree was founded in August 2016 by Wang Xingxing. He completed his bipedal humanoid robot project alone during his freshman year in 2009. During his graduate years, he developed a new quadruped robot XDog, pioneering in the global industry with his low-cost and high-performance technology solution for legged robots. At present, Unitree has two major series of products: quadruped robots and universal humanoid robots. Quadruped robots were the company's initial business direction, with multiple products including Go2, B2, Aliengo, etc, while universal humanoid robots is a new arena that the company started to explore in 2023. Insiders have pointed out that in the past few years, Yushu Technology has achieved a series of important milestones in the global high-performance quadruped robot field: self-developed high energy density joint motors, reducers, 3D LiDAR and other core robot components, and developed and improved AI world models for robots. According to official data, Yushu has applied for more than 180 domestic and foreign patents and authorized more than 150 patents.
Furthermore, Unitree's accomplishments in overseas market are as remarkable as its technological capabilities. At present, the company's online overseas markets cover dozens of countries and regions such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, France, and the United Kingdom, with global shipments accounting for at least 60%. In January 2024, Unitree H1 made its debut at CES in Las Vegas, USA. As the only humanoid robot capable of automatic operation on site, it attracted a lot of attention and further lifted the company's image in overseas markets. In a recent interview this year, Wang Xingxing, founder and CEO of Unitree, disclosed that the company has "received many overseas orders, many of which come from leading enterprises." In 2024, the company will keep marching forward in the global market.
In the past year, topics of robotics and generative AI have attracted huge attention worldwide, and discussions about universal humanoid robots have never been so heated. In this context, for companies like Unitree, consolidating core competitiveness will largely mean the opportunity to ride the technological tide. In the future, Unitree will redouble R&D efforts, facilitating the field of universal humanoid robots to break through the critical point of universal intelligence.