Shenzhen-based startup AI² Robotics has raised more than 1 billion yuan (~$144 million) in a Series B round, bringing its valuation to just under $1.5 billion.
The investor lineup includes Baidu, CRRC Corporation Ltd., several companies from the Tesla ecosystem, and Guotai Haitong Securities.
The signal: with a major securities firm on board, this is not just growth capital — it’s IPO preparation.
From demo hype to capital markets readiness
Dancing robots are nice, but China’s embodied AI sector is clearly shifting from prototype showcases to industrialization. What matters now are scalable, repeatable deployments in real production environments.
AI² Robotics was founded in 2023 by Guo Yandong, a former chief scientist at XPeng and a Purdue PhD.
🤖 Robots in action:
The wheeled dual-arm robot AlphaBot 2 is deployed in automotive and semiconductor manufacturing for sorting and labeling tasks.
Systems are trained using a combination of simulation and real-world data.
The company has also open-sourced its own visual-language-action (VLA) models.
The broader backdrop: in 2025, more than 20 Chinese robotics startups each raised around 1 billion yuan. Companies such as Galaxea AI, Galbot, Leju Robotics, and Unitree are preparing A-share listings or eyeing Hong Kong IPOs.
Listing or liquidation?
A year ago, a $42 million round was the largest financing in the sector. Today, five companies have each raised over $140 million within eight weeks.
The size of the round isn’t the key factor. The timing is. Capital is concentrating. The competition is shifting from “who has the best model?” to “who can generate recurring industrial revenue?”
The playbook is clear: reach the public markets quickly before consolidation tightens access to growth capital.
Public listings are becoming a financial safety net. Investors point to UBTech in Hong Kong as an example, despite ongoing losses, its listing status provides strategic stability and continued access to capital.
But: industrialization requires a different level of capital than building prototypes. 2026 will be the inflection point. The companies that can convert embodied AI demos into durable industrial revenue will stay in the game.
Sources: DealStreetAsia, Caixin Global
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