Unitree Robotics' Capital Race: Leading Venture Capital and Industry Investors Gather, Valuation Doubling as They Push Toward IPO

Question: How does the gathering of top capital influence the competition landscape of humanoid robots?

Humanoid robots have reached a milestone in the capital market, with UTree Technology’s IPO application accepted, aiming to become the first “embodied intelligence” stock on the A-share market. This officially unveils the company’s financial and technological profile.

UTree Technology’s capital landscape centers on the founder’s absolute control, attracting leading venture capital firms and industry investors, including Sequoia China, Shenzhen Capital Group, Matrix Partners China, as well as industry giants like Meituan, Tencent, and Alibaba.

Notably, by 2025, UTree Technology’s valuation saw significant changes due to equity adjustments. Early in the year, it was valued at around 5 billion RMB; by June, it increased approximately 1.1 times to 12 billion RMB. In the same month, China Mobile, Tencent, Wuxi Jinqiu, Alibaba’s Hangzhou Haoyue, Ant Group’s Shanghai Yunrang, and Hechuang Investment became new shareholders through capital increases.

As global tech giants accelerate their deployment and startups emerge widely, competition in the high-performance general robot industry is intensifying. The core industry competition is shifting from hardware manufacturing to a full-stack “perception—decision—execution” technological approach. Currently, the humanoid robot industry worldwide remains in early technological exploration stages, with no large-scale applications yet.

Full Capital Landscape Revealed

UTree Technology focuses on R&D, production, and sales of high-performance general humanoid robots, quadruped robots, robot components, and embodied intelligence models. Its IPO process has attracted market attention, with expectations to become the first “embodied intelligence” stock on the A-share market.

On March 20, UTree Technology’s application for IPO on the STAR Market was accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, marking a key breakthrough. As the second company under the pre-review mechanism, it disclosed its prospectus and two rounds of inquiry responses simultaneously. The company’s financial background is now officially unveiled.

UTree Technology’s capital foundation is rooted in the founder Wang Xingxing’s absolute control. As of now, Wang directly owns 23.8216% of shares, and through the equity incentive platform Shanghai Yuyi Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership) (“Shanghai Yuyi”), indirectly controls 10.9414%, totaling a control share of 34.7630%. Under the voting rights differential system, Wang’s direct voting rights account for 63.5457%, and combined with Shanghai Yuyi, the total voting rights control reaches 68.7816%. If successfully listed, Wang’s total control will decrease to no more than 65.3090%.

According to the prospectus, before issuance, Wang Xingxing and Shanghai Yuyi were the largest and second-largest shareholders, respectively. Besides the actual controller and employee shareholding platforms, UTree’s shareholder lineup is quite prestigious, including venture capital and industry capital.

Among them, Meituan-related entities (Hanhai Information, GalaxyZ, Chengdu Longzhu) hold a combined 9.6488%; Sequoia China (Ningbo Sequoia, Xiamen Yahan) hold 7.1149%, with fund managers Beijing Sequoia Kunde Investment Management Center (Limited Partnership) and Sequoia Capital Equity Investment Management (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. respectively.

Matrix Partners China (Matrix No.1, No.3) hold 5.4528%, with No.1 and No.3 holding 4.2598% and 1.1930%, respectively. The managing partners are Nanjing Matrix Jiangchuang Investment Management Partnership (Limited Partnership).

Shenzhen Capital Group (Shenzhen Venture Capital, Jiangsu Jiqian, Chuangxin Capital, Shenzhen Venture Capital Group) hold shares at 1.2888%, 0.5934%, 0.3752%, and 0.2966%, respectively. Chuangxin Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shenzhen Capital Group; Xinjiang Shenzhen Venture Capital and Jiangsu Jiqian are managed by fund managers controlled by Shenzhen Capital Group. All these entities are considered concerted actors.

Additionally, industry leaders like Tencent, Alibaba, Ant Group, and China Mobile have invested directly or indirectly.

Specifically, Hangzhou Haoyue and Shanghai Yunrang hold 0.4490% and 0.2245%, respectively. Hangzhou Haoyue is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (“AGH”), and Shanghai Yunrang is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ant Group. AGH holds 32.65% of Ant Group through its subsidiaries. As of the signing date of the prospectus, Shanghai Yunrang has committed to waive voting rights of its shares, and there is no concerted action between it and Hangzhou Haoyue.

It is noteworthy that in 2025, UTree Technology’s valuation changed significantly due to equity adjustments. The latest pre-investment valuation before the recent capital increase and transfer was 12 billion RMB, more than doubling from the 5.8 billion RMB valuation a week earlier. This has also prompted inquiries from the stock exchange.

According to UTree’s response, the actual pricing intentions for the three equity transfers in May 2025 were formed around late 2024, with valuations between 5 billion and 5.8 billion RMB. Previously, the company completed a Series B financing in September 2024 with a post-investment valuation of 3.785 billion RMB; then, in June 2025, it completed a Series C financing with a pre-investment valuation of 12 billion RMB. Overall, the company’s valuation grew from 3.785 billion RMB in September 2024 to approximately 5-5.8 billion RMB in early 2025, then to 12 billion RMB in June 2025.

“During this period, the rapid increase in overall valuation benefited from the fast development of AI, general robotics, and the company’s growing recognition domestically and globally, which is reasonable compared to the valuation growth in the primary and secondary markets,” UTree stated.

Commercialization Still Faces Multiple Uncertainties

The embodied intelligence robot industry integrates advanced technologies such as AI, high-end manufacturing, sensing, and automatic control. It is a comprehensive high-tech industry that promotes manufacturing transformation, cultivates new productivity, and aims to seize future technological competitive advantages.

As a key future industry direction supported by national policies, embodied intelligence and humanoid robots have been repeatedly included in national development guidelines like the “Guidelines for Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots.” The 2026 government work report explicitly emphasizes fostering future industries like embodied intelligence, and the 14th Five-Year Plan mentions promoting these industries as new growth points.

So, what is the current global state of embodied intelligence development, and how does UTree Technology compare with domestic and international peers?

In recent years, more manufacturers have entered the industry-level and consumer-level quadruped/humanoid robot markets, intensifying competition. Overseas companies like Boston Dynamics, Tesla, and Figure have pioneered technological research and commercial applications, providing valuable references. Domestic firms, led by UTree Technology, focus on product R&D, iteration, and commercialization scenarios, while some large tech companies leverage their AI and smart hardware ecosystems to explore ecological empowerment. Domestic automakers utilize their experience in automotive parts and manufacturing to explore robot R&D and industrial applications.

Public data indicates that quadruped robots are in the early stages of commercialization, mainly used for inspection and emergency scenarios, with rapidly expanding market applications. Driven by potential market size, the number of companies and institutions deploying quadruped robots worldwide continues to grow, forming a preliminary upstream and downstream industry chain. Humanoid robots are still in the technological exploration phase, with accelerating efforts to commercialize downstream applications. Some component technologies are developing rapidly, and the supply chain is continuously being built and optimized.

Previously, institutions like Morgan Stanley and Nuon Fund believed that the core challenge for general robot industrialization lies in balancing technical performance, mass production capacity, and commercial costs.

In its IPO prospectus, UTree noted that large-scale production and technological evolution of humanoid robots by international companies like Tesla could impact market players, including UTree. These competitors, with their algorithm advantages, supply chain management, and scale effects, are expected to reduce the unit costs of robots like Tesla’s Optimus rapidly, intensifying price competition and potentially pressuring UTree’s product pricing, market share, and profit margins.

From 2022 to 2024 and the first three quarters of 2025, UTree’s main revenue sources are quadruped and humanoid robots. The proportion of revenue from quadruped robots decreased from 75.78% in 2023 to 42.25% in the first three quarters of 2025, while humanoid robots increased from 1.88% to 51.53%.

As a frontier technology, high-performance general robots have received widespread and high-level attention from capital markets, industry, and media, with generally optimistic market expectations.

UTree cautions that the industry is still in the early stages of technological breakthroughs and commercialization. Slow progress in key technologies, cost control, or application scenarios could significantly reduce market enthusiasm and capital interest, slowing overall industry development and adversely affecting the company’s market expansion and performance.

“Long-term, large-scale commercialization of humanoid robots requires overcoming multiple factors such as technological reliability, production costs, market acceptance, and legal regulations. If downstream demand is slow to develop or experiences cyclical fluctuations, it will directly impact industry and company capacity utilization and revenue. Additionally, changes in global industry policies and regulations may introduce uncertainties to market demand,” UTree stated.

(First Financial News)