- Aura combines AI coaching for tennis, pickleball and other racket sports into a single device
- The campaign adds momentum to AI-powered sports hardware as China’s consumer robotics startups expand globally
Shanghai-based AI sports robotics startup PongBot has emerged as one of the latest Chinese AI hardware companies to find traction overseas after its Aura multi-sport coaching robot raised nearly $4 million on Kickstarter.
According to Chinese tech outlet 36Kr, the firm’s inaugural crowdfunding campaign generated more than $1 million within five hours of its May 19 launch.
By the time the campaign closed on July 4, Aura had secured $3.74 million from 1,608 backers, highlighting growing global demand for AI-powered sports training devices.
Aura marks PongBot’s evolution from a single-purpose tennis ball launcher into a multi-sport AI coaching platform.
Supporting tennis, pickleball, padel and other net sports, the robot is designed around a simple premise: one device for multiple sports.
Powered by the company’s AI Coach system, it allows users to train across disciplines without purchasing separate machines for each sport.
Used by China’s national team
Founded in Shanghai in 2019, PongBot has become one of China’s most closely watched AI sports hardware startups.
Founder Zhang Haibo (张海波) has spent more than a decade developing robotic training systems, including table tennis robots used by China’s national team.
His team developed core technologies such as high-speed ball tracking, trajectory prediction and spin simulation before adapting them for consumer products.
The company completed three consecutive funding rounds — Series A+, Series A++ and Series A+++ — within six months in 2025, raising nearly 200 million yuan from investors including Shenqi Capital, Future Capital Discovery Fund, BlueRun Ventures, JQ Capital and China Creation Ventures.
Pivot to consumer hardware
PongBot originated from a laboratory at Shanghai University of Sport, where it initially developed AI-powered serving robots for professional table tennis training.
The team observed that while racket sports enjoy huge participation, qualified coaches remain scarce. Conventional ball launchers simply eject balls mechanically without varying rhythm, spin or coaching feedback, limiting their training value.
That insight prompted PongBot to commercialize technologies originally developed for elite athletes, including ball trajectory algorithms, high-speed computer vision and motion prediction.
In October 2024, the company launched its first PACE tennis robot on Kickstarter, raising more than $2.7 million and validating overseas demand for AI-enabled training equipment.
PongBot now serves more than 300,000 users worldwide. Users have generated over 1 million training routines, while its robots have delivered more than 2 billion balls. Overseas revenue surpassed domestic sales for the first time in 2025.
From elite sports to mass fitness
More than 1 billion people worldwide participate in net sports such as table tennis, tennis, pickleball and padel, yet professional coaching remains expensive and difficult to access. In markets such as the United States, coach shortages have created strong demand for AI-assisted training.
PongBot differentiates itself through what it calls an integrated “hand-eye-brain” architecture.
The “hand” precisely delivers balls with professional-level speed, spin and placement; the “eye” uses computer vision to track players’ movement in real time; and the “brain” provides personalized coaching through large language models and natural-language interaction.
According to Zhang, the company’s experience in table tennis enabled it to expand into tennis using only about 10% of the original R&D effort because tennis presents fewer technical challenges.
Why it matters for global readers
Aura’s crowdfunding success highlights three broader trends.
First, AI sports hardware is evolving from professional training equipment into a mass-market fitness platform.
By combining multiple sports in one device and shifting toward subscription-based AI coaching services, companies like PongBot are exploring a “hardware-as-a-service” business model.
Second, Chinese AI hardware startups are increasingly following a global commercialization path: validating demand through Kickstarter before expanding into direct sales and distribution overseas. PongBot now works with more than 150 retail stores and distributors worldwide, with overseas revenue exceeding domestic sales.
Finally, AI-powered sports technology is emerging as another investment hotspot alongside AI education and AI healthcare.
PongBot’s rapid fundraising, growing global user base and successful crowdfunding campaigns suggest the sector is moving beyond concept validation toward large-scale commercialization.
