- Shares jump as much as 38% before closing up 15%
- Investors look past losses to bet on industrial robotics growth
SEER (仙工智能), a Chinese robotics software and controller maker known as the industry’s “robot brain” supplier, debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 24, becoming the first company in the segment to go public as a specialist technology listing.
The stock opened flat at HK$101.6 ($13), surged as much as 38% to HK$140.5 during trading, and later gave up much of those gains to close at HK$116.9, up 15.1% from its offer price.
Shares surge, then cool on debut
The company ended its first trading day with a market cap of about HK$12.9 billion.
Founded in 2020, SEER specializes in robot control systems, which serve as the central control layer for autonomous mobile robots and other industrial machines.
According to China Insights Consultancy, the company ranked first globally and in China by robot controller sales volume in 2025, with market shares of 24.8% and 45.2%, respectively.
The IPO was conducted under Hong Kong’s Chapter 18C regime for specialist technology companies. Shares were priced at HK$101.6 each, while the retail tranche was oversubscribed by 5,934.6 times.
Swapping medicine for robotics
Eight cornerstone investors led by HHLR, the investment arm of Hillhouse, subscribed a combined HK$462 million worth of shares.
Founder and chief executive Zhao Yue, 36, studied control science and engineering at Zhejiang University and led teams that won the RoboCup robot soccer world championship in 2013 and 2014.
He originally enrolled in an eight-year medical program at the university before switching to robotics and intelligent control. Following the IPO, Zhao retains about 47.9% of the company.
Despite its market-leading position in robot controllers, profitability remains elusive.
Market leader still chasing gains
Revenue rose from 249 million yuan ($36.67) in 2023 to 442 million yuan in 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of 33.2%.
Net losses, however, stood at 47.7 million yuan, 42.3 million yuan and 47.1 million yuan over the same period, totaling nearly 137 million yuan. The company expects to remain loss-making through the end of 2026.
Cash flow has also come under pressure. Net cash used in operating activities reached 27.8 million yuan in 2025, while trade receivables more than tripled from 53.7 million yuan in 2023 to 169.6 million yuan in 2025.
The average collection period stretched to 111 days, highlighting growing working-capital demands from customers.
Margins squeezed
SEER’s business mix has also shifted in ways that could weigh on margins. Robot controllers, its highest-margin product with a gross margin of 79.8%, accounted for 19.3% of revenue in 2025, down from 26.5% two years earlier.
Meanwhile, lower-margin robot hardware products, which carry a gross margin of 38.4%, expanded to 67.9% of total revenue.
That transition has coincided with a sharp decline in controller pricing. The average selling price of the company’s controllers fell from 25,900 yuan in 2023 to 10,700 yuan in 2025, a drop of nearly 60%.
With its core high-margin business shrinking as lower-margin hardware drives growth, investors are now focused on whether SEER can convert its technology leadership into a sustainable profit model.
