- Consumer robotics startup secures the largest angel financing in its sector
- Funding will accelerate product development, manufacturing expansion and commercialization
Tsinghua University-incubated embodied AI startup Discover Robotics (求之科技) has raised more than $100 million in its first funding round, setting a record for the largest angel investment in China’s consumer embodied robotics sector.
The round was backed by a consortium of venture capital firms, including Legend Capital, Henan Information Industry Investment, Lenovo Capital, Cedarlake Capital, Puhua Capital, Lingang LKC Investment, Ambrum Capital and Glacier Capital.
The startup will use the proceeds to accelerate product development, expand manufacturing capacity and support commercial expansion as the company seeks to strengthen its position in consumer embodied AI robotics.
Founded in January 2023 and relocated to Wuxi’s Binhu District in July the same year, Discover Robotics was incubated by the Institute for AI Industry Research (AIR), Tsinghua University.
Roots in Tsinghua, DJI
The company focuses on integrating AI with robotics and is leveraging Wuxi’s advanced manufacturing ecosystem to accelerate commercialization.
Founder and Chief Scientist Zhou Guyue (周谷越) is an associate professor at Tsinghua’s AIR and a PhD graduate of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Zhou previously spent eight years at DJI, where he played a key role in developing the company’s consumer drone technologies. The founding team also includes engineers and researchers from Tsinghua University, DJI and Alibaba Group.
Airbot series
The company’s flagship Airbot series features mobile dual-arm robots with height-adjustable platforms capable of human-like coordinated manipulation.
Equipped with depth cameras and teaching devices, the robots support embodied AI data collection, pre-trained model deployment and imitation learning.
The platform has already been adopted by universities and industrial users for robotics research, industrial inspection and embodied AI development, positioning the company at the intersection of research infrastructure and the emerging consumer robotics market.
