AI² Robotics Eyes Hong Kong Listing Amid China's Robot Boom
Chinese robotics startup AI² Robotics is reportedly considering an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, following a recent funding round that doubled its valuation to nearly $3 billion in June.
The Shenzhen-based unicorn, founded just three years ago, aims to go public next year after raising $736 million two months ago. This funding round pushed AI² Robotics' valuation past 20 billion yuan (over $2.9 billion).
The company builds wheeled humanoid robots called AlphaBot paired with an in-house vision-language-action system named Alpha Brain, which its CEO, Yandong Guo, calls their 'key advantage'. Guo has stated that the company is looking at 10 times growth (in revenue) pretty much every year.
AI² Robotics' planned IPO joins a growing list of Chinese robotics startups pursuing listings in Hong Kong or the Chinese mainland. Unitree Robotics and AGIBOT are among these companies, with Unitree expecting to be valued at more than 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) following its debut.