From August 21st to August 25th, the largest robot exhibition in China - the World Robot Conference (WRC 2024) to be held at the Yizhuang International Convention and Exhibition Center in Beijing. As many as 27 humanoid robots were unveiled at the World Robot Conference; In the first half of the year, the capital circle was not lively, and several large amounts of financing poured into the robot industry.

Raised more than 7.5 billion yuan in half a year

As of June 30, 2024, there has been a significant increase in financing activity in the domestic robotics industry this year. According to statistics, a total of 69 financing events occurred in the first half of this year, of which 12 were at the level of 100 million yuan, and the total amount of financing disclosed was about 7.5 billion yuan.

In contrast, there were only 32 financing events for domestic robot companies last year, with a total financing amount of about 5 billion yuan. It can be seen that the number of financing events in the first half of this year has doubled, and the total amount of financing has shown a steady growth trend.

A notable feature of the first half of this year was a significant increase in the number of financing events for bionic robots such as humanoid robots and quadruped robots, totaling 18 cases, compared with only 4 to 5 such financing events per year. Among them, there were 6 financing events of more than 100 million yuan, including nearly 1 billion yuan of financing from Unitree Technology, 700 million yuan of angel round financing from Galaxy General, and the financing of several other companies such as Xingdong Era, Xinghaitu, Pacini Perception, and Stardust Intelligence on the humanoid robot track.

In addition, the highest single financing amount in the first half of the year was the industrial robot company Youai Zhihe, with a financing amount of 1.4 billion yuan.

Driven by concepts such as large models, the financing progress of the domestic robot industry has continued the momentum of last year, not only the pace of disclosure is stable and intensive, but also attracted the investment of well-known technology giants such as JD.com, Meituan, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Baidu, iFLYTEK and Alibaba.

Overall, in the first half of 2024, the domestic robot industry has not only seen a significant increase in the number of financing, but also showed a strong growth momentum in the amount of financing, especially in the field of bionic robots.

How far is the robotics industry from the ChatGPT moment?

At the end of 2022, OpenAI's release of ChatGPT set off a new round of artificial intelligence boom, and many capitals and entrepreneurs have poured into the AI field, hoping for the future changes brought by AI. However, can Tesla Optimus become the "ChatGPT" of the humanoid robot industry? In the face of this wave of tuyere, how should investors and entrepreneurs deal with it?

At this stage, the robot industry is faced with a choice: whether to prioritize the pursuit of commercial landing and breakeven, or pay more attention to product research and development? A partner of BlueRun Ventures pointed out that the current capital market is more inclined to focus on profitability, which is mainly affected by the external economic environment. However, in the era of mobile Internet, the market's demand for profitability is not so high. For those teams that make major innovations, investors usually do not set a clear threshold for profitability, but focus more on whether they can develop competitive products based on existing technology boundaries and achieve market adaptability through continuous iteration.

Although the humanoid robot industry is still in the early stages of development, there are already some companies that are showing a leading edge in this field. Different companies have different feelings about the difficulty of financing, with some saying that it is more difficult to raise funds, while others say they have more initiative and will selectively select investors.

Similar to the partner's sentiments, one of the founders of a humanoid robotics company agrees that the lag in robotic AI capabilities behind the development of general-purpose AI is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry. However, from the perspective of investment, the humanoid robot track is expected to continue to be hot for 2 to 3 years, and more attention will be paid to R&D efficiency in the future, especially how to make robots both intelligent and low-cost.

Tesla is reportedly recruiting a large number of people to train its humanoid robot, Optus, by wearing motion capture equipment and VR headsets, among other things. When humanoid robots accumulate enough data and become smarter, the industry may usher in a turning point. A representative of one exhibitor said that the investment required to develop the "brain" of a robot is much higher than the construction of its "body", and that AI in the robotics industry is at least five years away from reaching the level of ChatGPT.

How long can this round of humanoid robot investment boom last?

At present, the humanoid robot industry has entered the midfield stage of the investment boom, and it is expected that the heat will continue in the next two years or so. However, since the capital market tends to have over-high or overly optimistic expectations for short-term technical results and underestimate the long-term impact, there will be a subsequent pullback, forming cyclical fluctuations, and the overall trend will be zigzag upward.

Setting profit requirements reflects the current aesthetic preferences of the capital market. Compared with the era of mobile Internet, investment institutions at that time did not have such high requirements for profits. The reason why profitability is emphasized now is mainly related to the external market environment. However, for those teams that are committed to major innovations, investment institutions such as BlueRun Ventures do not set clear profit requirements, but are more concerned about whether these companies can develop competitive products that can meet market demand based on the current technological boundaries, so as to achieve product iteration cycles.

The essence of manufacturing is a large-scale business, and companies that can ultimately stand out will naturally achieve profitability. The market doesn't need so many humanoid robot companies, but it's still in a chaotic phase where industry giants haven't fully emerged. At this stage, it is beneficial for the whole ecosystem to have more startups involved, and different players can explore in the direction they think is best. From the perspective of investors, the vitality of the ecosystem means that a large amount of capital and talents are introduced into this vertical field, and at the same time, it can also attract more market attention and the support of industry resources.

However, it is expected that in 3 to 5 years, the number of players in the industry will decrease, completing the process of survival of the fittest. At present, many humanoid robot companies rely on capital transfusion to maintain operations, and lack real product landing capabilities and commercialization capabilities. Over time, when this round of capital market boom subsides, only those teams that can make good products and have the ability to commercialize them will survive.