SEALIEN ROBOTICS (深海智人), a Guangzhou-based developer of deep-sea industrial robots, announced on Aug. 13 that it had completed a Series A financing round exceeding CNY 500 million. The funding comes as the company secures several hundred million yuan in whole-unit robot contracts and expands across the Middle East, Europe, Southeast Asia and other overseas markets.
New investors in the round included GRC SinoGreen Fund, Fortune Capital, GGV Capital, Addor Capital, China Insurance Investment, CETC Investment and an energy-technology fund managed by Cathay Capital with TotalEnergies as an anchor investor. Existing shareholders, including Zhengxuan Investment, Yunze Capital and Yunshi Capital, also increased their investments.
By the end of July, SEALIEN ROBOTICS had signed several hundred million yuan in new contracts for complete deep-sea robot systems. Orders worth a similar amount were expected to be signed within the following two months, while another CNY 1 billion in potential contracts remained under negotiation. The latter figure represents prospective business rather than confirmed orders, but the pipeline indicates that demand is moving beyond small-scale trials.
The company develops work-class remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, for offshore oil and gas, subsea communications, offshore wind power and underwater infrastructure. Its portfolio includes the 6,000-meter-rated Singularity work-class robot, the 3,000-meter-rated Phoenix subsea cable-burial system and the 1,000-meter-rated Taurus heavy-duty robot. It is also developing autonomous underwater vehicles and an AI-based decision system designed to coordinate multiple robots.
SEALIEN ROBOTICS gained overseas momentum in 2025 after securing an order from a United Arab Emirates telecommunications operator for a Phoenix 600 system valued at nearly US$10 million. The customer subsequently placed additional orders, expanding the procurement from one unit to three. The company’s customers now span markets including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Brazil, Australia, the UAE, Egypt, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Deep-sea robotics is a specialized industrial market in which reliability, engineering standards and delivery capabilities matter more than demonstration performance. Equipment must withstand extreme pressure, corrosion, poor visibility and communication delays while performing tasks such as cable burial, pipeline maintenance and offshore-facility inspection. These requirements have historically favored established European and American suppliers.
SEALIEN ROBOTICS’ growing order book shows how Chinese embodied-intelligence companies can enter global markets through clearly defined industrial applications. The company is already selling complete machines for high-value offshore projects, giving it a more direct route from technology development to commercial revenue. If its pending contracts convert into deliveries, deep-sea robotics could become an early example of Chinese embodied intelligence achieving scaled overseas adoption in a vertical market.