- Humanoid robot maker seeks 4.2 billion yuan to fund R&D and manufacturing expansion
- Approval paves way for one of China’s first publicly listed embodied AI companies
Chinese robotics company Unitree (宇树科技) cleared a key hurdle in its bid to go public after passing a Shanghai STAR Market listing hearing on June 1.
This update signals that the Hangzhou-based robotics upstart is moving closer to becoming China’s first publicly traded humanoid robot maker.
Meeting all requirements
The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s listing committee concluded, at its 31st meeting this year, that Unitree met the requirements for issuance, listing and information disclosure, according to the hearing results released after the meeting.
The approval caps a rapid review process that took just 73 days from the exchange’s acceptance of the company’s application on March 20, making it one of the fastest IPO reviews on the STAR Market in recent years.
Unitree plans to raise 4.2 billion yuan ($621 million) through the offering. The proceeds will fund embodied AI model development, robot research and development, and the construction of manufacturing facilities, according to its prospectus.
Poster boy of embodied AI
Founded in Hangzhou in 2016, Unitree has emerged as one of China’s best-known robotics startups, with products spanning quadruped robots and humanoid machines.
The company has benefited from growing investor interest in embodied AI, a field that combines AI with physical robots capable of interacting with the real world.
If it successfully completes the registration process with the securities regulator, Unitree is set to become the first humanoid robotics company to list on China’s A-share market and among the country’s first publicly traded pure-play embodied AI firms.
The filing comes as Chinese policymakers and investors increasingly view humanoid robotics as a strategic technology sector, alongside AI, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing.
