--- title: "Unitree's RMB 694m C-round values humanoid robot maker at US$1.8bn" date: 2026-10-27 category: Capital & Markets site: NeuroAI canonical: https://neuroai.site/a/na-unitree-c-round language: en --- # Unitree's RMB 694m C-round values humanoid robot maker at US$1.8bn > Unitree (宇树科技) closed a RMB 694m (≈US$97m) C-round in June 2025 at a ~US$1.8bn valuation, with China's tech giants piling in ahead of an IPO. 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 - When the prospectus publishes, read the revenue-by-product breakdown — four-legged vs. humanoid mix determines how "robotic" the growth really is. - Watch the STAR Market listing documents for the final offer price and the lock-up schedule of the C-round strategic holders. - Track Unitree's unit shipments versus peers (UBTech, AgiBot, Figure) to judge whether the 30,000-unit lead is widening or closing. --- Published by NeuroAI (https://neuroai.site/) — https://neuroai.site/a/na-unitree-c-round Free to quote with attribution and a link to the original.