Shenzhen EngineAI Robotics Technology has snapped 1 billion yuan ($139.3 million) in two funding rounds to bankroll its way to commercialisation.
Its pre-Series A++ was led by Rocket Capital, a Chinese PE firm focused on growth-stage investments across the smart electric vehicle (EV) value chain and other frontier technologies. Rocket Capital counts Chinese EV marker XPeng as the anchor investor of its $250-million debut fund, which hit its final close in June 2024, according to a company release on Monday.
Its Series A1 round was led by China’s e-commerce giant JD.com, alongside participating investors including CATL Capital, the strategic investment arm of Chinese battery giant CATL; Chinese conglomerate Yintai Holdings; growth-stage PE investor Tsinghua Holdings Capital (TH Capital), among others.
Existing shareholders including the likes SenseCapital, the private equity investment under Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company SenseTime; and Highlight Capital (HLC) also re-upped in both rounds.
Founded in October 2023, EngineAI engages in the R&D and manufacturing of general intelligent robots applicable across different scenarios from scientific research, education, to industrial and manufacturing, the firm claims in its website.
The investment comes shortly after the firm announced the close of its 200-million yuan ($27.5 million) pre-Series A round led by Dubai-headquartered investment firm Stone Venture in April.
Funding frenzy towards Chinese upstarts pushing the boundaries of integrating AI with physical systems has been unstoppable. Most recently, a slew of embodied AI firms have closed megadeals, or investments worth $100 million or above, in the past few weeks, including the likes of DEEP Robotics, RobotEra, TARS, and Galaxea AI.
