Chinese humanoid robot startup Galbot on Friday announced the completion of a new funding round of over $300 million at a valuation of $3 billion, making it arguably the highest valued embodied intelligence startup in the country.
The investment also marks the biggest single funding round in the embodied intelligence industry in China, according to investment bank Lighthouse Capital, which served as the exclusive financial adviser of the deal.
China Mobile’s industry investment fund led the round. Multiple investment platforms and corporates participated, including CICC Capital, Suzhou Capital Group, Shenzhen-listed equipment manufacturer Miracle Automation Engineering, and funds affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Galbot announced in the statement.
International investment firms from Singapore and the Middle East also invested in the round, alongside some existing shareholders, said Galbot.
The latest financing brought Galbot’s fundraising total to about $800 million. It came just six months after Galbot closed an investment of 1.1 billion yuan ($156.2 million) from lead investors, including China’s battery giant CATL and its industry investment arm CATL Capital.
This financing will accelerate the adoption of Galbot’s human-like robots across industrial, commercial, and household use cases. The support of international investors will help it further explore global partnerships and business opportunities, according to the statement.
Founded in May 2023 and fully known as Beijing Galbot Co Ltd, Galbot specialises in developing general humanoid robots for broad applications in industrial manufacturing, smart city services, and 24/7 smart retail and warehousing. Its efforts in promoting humanoid robots for industrial manufacturing have borne fruit, with cumulative orders from clients including CATL, Germany’s Robert Bosch, Toyota Motor and others totalling a few thousand robots.
Sources cited in a Bloomberg report on December 12 said that Galbot was mulling an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong next year, which, however, was disclaimed by the startup.
Another Chinese humanoid robot manufacturer, Hangzhou Unitree Technology, is in the process of preparing for an IPO in Shanghai.
