Unitree's RMB 694m C-round values humanoid robot maker at US$1.8bn

In late May 2025, Unitree (宇树科技) was worth about RMB 5.3bn on paper. Six days later, after one equity transfer and a fresh round, that number had jumped to roughly RMB 12.7bn. For a company that started in 2016 with a RMB 2m (≈ US$0.28m) angel cheque, the climb was not a curve — it was a vertical line.

Unitree's C-round is the cleanest window yet into how seriously China's largest corporates now take the humanoid-robot (人形机器人) bet.

Key takeaways

• Unitree closed a C-round of RMB 694m (≈ US$97m) in June 2025, lifting its post-money valuation to about RMB 12.7bn (≈ US$1.8bn).
• The round was led by a coalition of corporate giants: China Mobile's investment fund, Tencent (腾讯), Alibaba (阿里), Ant Group (蚂蚁集团) and Geely Capital (吉利资本), with the ex-ByteDance-linked Jinqiu Fund (锦秋基金) also participating.
• The valuation step was abrupt: a late-May 2025 transfer implied ~RMB 5.3bn; the C-round more than doubled it within a week.
• Unitree has since advanced its public-markets plan; its STAR Market (科创板) IPO was accepted for review by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on March 20, 2026.
• Unlike many robotics peers, Unitree was already profitable on a adjusted basis, with 2025 operating cash inflow reported above RMB 670m.

A financing curve that went vertical

Unitree's capital history reads like a compounding chart. Seed and angel money in 2016–2018 was tiny. Redview Capital's (红杉中国) seed fund and Shunwei (顺为资本, linked to Xiaomi) joined the Pre-A and A rounds. A December 2021 B-round raised RMB 91.5m (≈ US$12.8m) at a RMB 891m (≈ US$125m) post-money. Three further rounds between February 2022 and August 2024 added RMB 993m (≈ US$139m) and carried the valuation to RMB 3.785bn (≈ US$529m), with Meituan (美团), Shenzhen Capital (深创投) and others leading.

Then came 2025. A late-May equity transfer priced the company around RMB 5.3bn (≈ US$742m). The June C-round — RMB 694m of new money — pushed post-money to roughly RMB 12.7bn. Old shareholders reinvested at a rate above 90%, a telling vote of confidence from insiders who could have taken cash off the table instead.

Who wrote the checks

The C-round's defining feature was not its size but its cast. Rather than pure venture shops, the lead group was strategic corporates:

• China Mobile's fund (中国移动旗下基金) — telecom infrastructure and edge-compute reach.
• Tencent (腾讯科技) — cloud, capital and distribution.
• Alibaba (阿里集团) — cloud and enterprise demand.
• Ant Group (蚂蚁集团) — balance-sheet capital.
• Geely Capital (吉利资本) — an early manufacturing and automotive adopter.
• Jinqiu Fund (锦秋基金) — founded by a former ByteDance finance lead, extending the big-tech lineage.

This is a different investor base from a typical robotics startup. The message: the buyers expect to be customers, suppliers or distribution partners, not just passive limited partners.

Why the giants cared

Humanoid robots have spent a decade as a demo. Unitree's edge is that it ships. Filings cited cumulative four-legged robot sales above 30,000 units — a global lead in that category — and a 2025 revenue figure around RMB 1.71bn (≈ US$239m), up sharply from RMB 123m (≈ US$17m) in 2022. Gross margin on its core business rose toward 60%, and 2025 operating cash inflow was reported above RMB 670m (≈ US$94m).

For the corporate investors, the logic is vertical integration: a cheap, capable robot body is a distribution channel for cloud, a test bed for AI, and — for an automaker like Geely — a candidate for factory floors. The strategic round was, in effect, a supply-chain and ecosystem wager dressed as a financing.

The road to an IPO

Unitree completed its joint-stock restructuring in May 2025 and, by November 2025, finished IPO tutelage (上市辅导). On March 20, 2026, its STAR Market (科创板) initial public offering (首次公开募股/IPO) was accepted for pre-review by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with CITIC Securities (中信证券) as sponsor.

That path matters for capital markets. A profitable robotics name listing on the STAR Market would give domestic investors a rare hard-tech comp with real revenue and positive cash flow — a contrast to the pre-profit model labs crowding Hong Kong. Regulators did ask about the abrupt 2025 valuation jump; the company attributed the gap to the time lag between term-sheet negotiation and signing, a standard defense in hot markets.

Honest limitations

• The C-round size and RMB 12.7bn valuation are drawn from multiple media citing the prospectus and filings; we have not seen the company's own cap table primary source.
• Revenue and margin figures are company disclosures cited by financial press; an IPO prospectus may restate them.
• The STAR Market acceptance is a review-stage event, not a completed listing; pricing and timing remain undecided.
• "Profitable" here refers to adjusted (扣非) figures; full GAAP net income can differ, and robotics margins are sensitive to component costs.

What readers can do now

1. When the prospectus publishes, read the revenue-by-product breakdown — four-legged vs. humanoid mix determines how "robotic" the growth really is.
2. Watch the STAR Market listing documents for the final offer price and the lock-up schedule of the C-round strategic holders.
3. Track Unitree's unit shipments versus peers (UBTech, AgiBot, Figure) to judge whether the 30,000-unit lead is widening or closing.