Quadruped Robot Startup Unitree Robotics Secures Round B Financing

Unitree Robotics, a Hangzhou-based manufacturer of high-performance quadruped robots, has recently announced its completion of B-round financing worth several hundred million yuan, led by Matrix Partners and Dunhong Capital Management, followed by Hexagon AB, Shunwei Capital, Winreal Investment and Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd., with Winsoul Capital listed as the company’s exclusive financial advisor.

Founded in August 2016, Unitree Robotics is a cutting-edge startup that focuses on the development, production and sales of high-performance quadruped robots and six-axis dexterous robotic arms in China. It is also one of the earliest companies in the world to sell quadruped robots to the public. At present, the company has launched various quadruped robot products such as its Laiakgo, Aliengo, A1, Go1 and B1 models. The company’s cumulative sales volume totals thousands of units in dozens of countries.

Different from the service robots commonly seen in shopping malls, hotels and restaurants, Unitree’s quadruped robots are much better in terms of flexibility, agility, adaptability to complex environments and durability of operation, not only providing better services for people’s daily life, but also adapting to various complex and dangerous scenarios.

As for the consumer grade market, Unitree Robotics has launched three quadruped robot products: A1, Go1 and BenBen. Among them, the Go1 series, the first consumer-grade robot model launched by the company in the middle of 2021, have been shipped in batches in the second half of 2021. Nearly 1,000 units have been shipped at present. In addition, Go1 is equipped with an intelligent side-follow system and super sensory system, with a maximum speed of about 4.7 m/s and an adaptive load capacity of about 3-5kg.

For the industrial grade market, the company has products such as B1, Aliengo, Laikago, and dexterity lightness robotic arm Z1. Among them, the quadruped robot B1, which performed on stage at China’s 2022 CCTV Lantern Festival Gala, has the characteristics of all-weather operation and a strong load. It also has gained leading customers from fields of safety, fire protection, steel, oil and gas, covering scenarios like patrol inspection and transportation.

The capital recently secured by Unitree Robotics will be mainly allocated for three purposes: first, to intensify the construction of mass production lines improving the company’s production capacity; second, to speed up products’ iteration and continuously strengthen the R&D of new products on the basis of improving existing products (the company plans to launch at least one innovative product every year); and third, to further expand its team especially with talent bringing relevant experience in algorithms, software and hardware, production, management, market and brand management.

SEE ALSO: Industrial Mobile Robot Firm Youibot Robotics Wins Financing of Over $47 Million

From a broader industry point of view, quadruped robots with strong functionality have attracted many enterprises to invest, including startups such as Weilan, Delu Dynamics, Deep Robotics, HachiBot, as well as companies in different fields like Xiaomi and XPeng.