Half of the investment community is grateful to Yushu.

Author: Li Bing , Rongzhong Finance

"Thank you for giving us the opportunity to invest in Unitree five years ago."

At the Xiaomi product launch event on March 19th, Lei Jun said this to Wang Xingxing, who was standing next to him, in front of the entire audience. The next day, March 20th, the Shanghai Stock Exchange website showed that Unitree Innovation's application for an IPO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board had been formally accepted.

The timing was so precise that one has to admire Lei Jun's sharp eye. The money invested five years ago is about to become a stock that everyone wants to own.

This is not an exaggeration. According to ITjuzi data, as of March 20, 2026, there have been 207 financing events in China's robotics sector this year, including 133 financing events for humanoid robots, with 115 companies receiving funding. Among all these robotics companies in the primary market, Unitree Robotics is the only one that is already profitable, has a gross profit margin approaching 60%, ranks first globally in humanoid robot shipments, and has officially opened the door to the A-share market.

The prospectus clearly states: 2025 revenue is expected to reach approximately RMB 1.708 billion, a year-on-year increase of 335%; net profit after deducting non-recurring items will exceed RMB 600 million; and the company plans to raise RMB 4.202 billion. Even more remarkable is that Unitree Robotics achieved profitability in 2024, and its gross profit margin surged to 60.27% in 2025, with gross profit margins for humanoid and quadruped robots exceeding 60%, while most of its competitors are still operating at a loss or have gross profit margins below 30%. Of the RMB 4.2 billion raised, over RMB 2 billion will be invested in core technologies such as large-scale humanoid models, and production capacity will be expanded to 75,000 humanoid robots and 115,000 quadruped robots annually.

While its competitors were still burning through investors' money to make prototypes, Unitree Robotics had already sold 5,500 humanoid robots, with an average selling price of 167,600 yuan, while still maintaining a gross profit margin of 62.9%.

This is the cruel rule of hard technology—whoever can turn the technology in the laboratory into a product that users are willing to pay for will gain the highest pricing power in the capital market.

From quadrupedal to humanoid, Unitree's "product leap"

By examining Yushu's revenue structure, you will discover a clear trajectory of strategic transformation.

In 2022, the company's main business revenue was 121 million yuan, with quadruped robots accounting for 76.57%, making them the absolute mainstay. At that time, Unitree was still known as "a company that makes robot dogs." To date, Unitree has sold more than 30,000 quadruped robots, ranking first in global market share, with stable cash flow and large-scale production.

In August 2023, Unitree Robotics launched its first full-size humanoid robot, the H1. Only five units were sold that year, generating a negligible revenue of 2.9671 million yuan.

In 2024, the medium-sized humanoid robot G1 officially entered mass production, with a starting price of 99,000 yuan. It became Unitree's first general-purpose humanoid robot to be launched on a large scale, marking a key step in the commercialization of humanoid robots. That year, Unitree achieved profitability.

The turning point came in 2025. At the beginning of the year, 16 H1 humanoid robots from Unitree Robotics appeared on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, performing a fully AI-driven group dance in Zhang Yimou's program "Yang BOT," with the company's founder, Wang Xingxing, personally supporting the performance. Overnight, "humanoid robots" became a hot topic of technological discussion.

In the first three quarters of 2025, Unitree Robotics' sales revenue of humanoid robots reached 595 million yuan, accounting for 51.53% of total revenue, surpassing quadruped robots (488 million yuan, accounting for 42.25%) for the first time. In terms of sales volume, 3,551 humanoid robots were sold, which is 8.6 times the total sales volume for the entire year of 2024.

It only took two years to go from 5 units to 3,500 units.

More importantly, there's the price curve. The average selling price of humanoid robots dropped from 593,400 yuan in 2023 to 260,700 yuan in 2024, and then to 167,600 yuan in the first three quarters of 2025. Unitree explained in its prospectus that this was both a result of changes in product structure (G1 was priced lower) and proactive price adjustments, with the aim of "building a long-term competitive advantage."

We trade cost-effectiveness for scale, scale for data, and data for faster technological iteration.

This strategy has already been proven successful in the quadruped robot market. Unitree Robotics has sold over 30,000 quadruped robots, leading the global market share. Now, they are replicating this approach in the humanoid robot market.

Wang Xingxing's ambitions don't stop there. In a recent public speech, he declared, "Humanoid robots will outrun Usain Bolt by mid-2026." Bolt's world record for the 100-meter dash is 9.58 seconds, corresponding to a speed of approximately 10.4 meters per second. Meanwhile, the best speed achieved by the Yushu H1 in its preparations has already exceeded 5 meters per second.

Is it possible? At least Unitree has convinced the market of this possibility.

Luxurious shareholder list: Half of the hard tech investment circle is on board.

The reason why Unitree's IPO caused a stir in the entire industry was not only because of its performance, but also because of its shareholder list, which can be described as an "all-star lineup".

Founder Wang Xingxing directly holds 23.82% of the shares and indirectly holds 10.94%, making him the controlling shareholder. However, through a special voting rights arrangement, he effectively controls 68.78% of the voting rights.

Among institutional investors, Meituan-affiliated companies (HanHai Information, Galaxy Z, and Chengdu Longzhu) collectively hold approximately 9.6488% of the shares, making them the largest shareholder besides Wang Xingxing and the equity incentive platform Shanghai Yuyi. Sequoia China (Ningbo Sequoia and Xiamen Yaheng) holds approximately 7.1149%. Matrix Partners China (Matrix One and Matrix Three) holds approximately 5.4528%.

Even more noteworthy is the entry of internet giants. Tencent Technology directly holds 0.5986% of the shares, while Alibaba Group (Hangzhou Haoyue) and Ant Group (Shanghai Yunyang) also appear. It is extremely rare in the capital market for two major camps to bet on the same robotics company.

In terms of industrial capital, BYD, Geely, funds under China Mobile, Beijing Robotics Industry Development Fund, Shenzhen Capital Group, and Jingshi Investment (a subsidiary of CITIC Securities) have all invested. State-owned enterprises, industry players, and financial investors have all joined in.

This list sends two key signals:

First, a consensus has been reached on the industry's potential. From early-stage pure financial investment (Shunwei, Sequoia) to later-stage industrial capital (BYD, Meituan) and state-owned funds, it's clear that robotics is now seen by all parties as a strategically important industry with a clear national future. BYD's entry suggests potential in the automotive manufacturing sector, while Meituan's support points to the potential in logistics and delivery.

Secondly, it possesses extremely strong valuation premium capabilities. Given the tightening liquidity in the primary market, the fact that Unitree can still attract such a concentrated influx of capital demonstrates its scarcity as an industry leader. When it completed its Series C financing in 2025, Unitree's post-investment valuation already exceeded 10 billion yuan. Now, with its IPO in full swing, its market capitalization is expected to be even higher.

The money Lei Jun invested through Shunwei Capital five years ago must have yielded a substantial return. No wonder Lei Jun personally thanked Wang Xingxing—this is probably one of the most successful early-stage investments in the Xiaomi ecosystem in recent years.

Yu Shu is the first

Unitree Robotics is the first humanoid robot company to formally submit an application to list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.

According to publicly available information, over 20 robotics companies, including Leju Robotics, Cloud Depth, Standard Robots, UAI Intelligent, Luoshi Robotics, XianGong Intelligent, Atom Robotics, Jiazhi Technology, Canopy Robotics, and Jiuwu Intelligent, have clearly stated their IPO plans. Unitree Robotics, as the first to cross the line, is currently scheduled to go public on March 20, 2026, coinciding with the company's 10th anniversary.

What does this "first" mean?

First, there's the scarcity premium associated with being the first listed humanoid robot company on the A-share market. While Hong Kong already has robotics companies like UBTECH (listed in December 2023) and Yuejiang (listed in December 2024), the valuation logic for hard technology companies in the A-share market is completely different. The liquidity of the STAR Market, institutional allocation demand, and the added support of the "domestic substitution" narrative all make Unitree one of the most sought-after targets at present.

Secondly, the establishment of an industry valuation benchmark. Unitree's offering price, price-to-earnings ratio, and market capitalization will directly impact the valuation expectations of subsequent companies queuing for IPOs. If Unitree can secure a high premium, the entire industry will benefit; if the market reaction is lukewarm, later companies may be forced to adjust their expectations.

Third, the opening of exit channels for capital. Over the past two years, financing in the robotics sector has been booming, but exit channels have been limited. Unitree's successful IPO means that early investors have a model for exiting their investments, which will likely lead to more active subsequent financing and M&A transactions in the robotics sector.

However, risks also exist. In its prospectus, Unitree admitted: "Given that the embodied large model technology is still in the research and testing stage globally, the company has not yet applied its self-developed general embodied large model to robot products on a large scale during the reporting period." However, Unitree was prepared in advance, having already open-sourced two major embodied large models, WMA and VLA, to secure its position in future technology directions.

This is a common bottleneck faced by the entire industry. Unitree Robotics breaks down robot capabilities into a "brain" and a "cerebellum"—the cerebellum is responsible for motor control (running, jumping, somersaulting), while the brain is responsible for understanding, interaction, and autonomous decision-making. Currently, Unitree Robotics' cerebellum is at the industry's top level, but its brain is not yet mature. Without a mature brain, robots can only execute preset instructions and cannot truly understand the environment or autonomously plan tasks.

When this technological bottleneck is overcome will determine whether general-purpose robots can move from the laboratory to factories and homes, and will also determine the valuation ceiling of Unitree Robotics after its listing.

In 2026, multiple rounds of financing will become the norm for star companies.

If we broaden our perspective to the entire robotics industry, the funding frenzy in 2026 can only be described as insane.

According to ITjuzi data, as of March 20, 2026, there were 207 financing deals in the robotics sector, including 115 deals involving humanoid robots, totaling 133 financing deals.

A notable trend is that star companies are raising funds at an increasingly faster pace, with each round involving larger sums.

Zhiyuan Robotics has recently reached a valuation of over 15 billion yuan. Its cleaning robot business, "Zhiding Robotics," completed a multi-million yuan Series A financing round in February, with investors including Shenzhen Investment Holdings and Lexy Electric.

In March, Galaxy General Robotics completed a RMB 2.5 billion Series B+ financing round, with a post-investment valuation of RMB 22.5 billion. Investors included a lineup of "national team" investors such as the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, SMIC Capital, Yizhuang Guotou, Bank of China, and Sinopec Capital.

Lingchu Intelligent completed a 2 billion yuan Pre-A round of financing in March, with a post-investment valuation of 8 billion yuan.

Pasini completed a 1 billion yuan Series B financing round in March, valuing the company at 10 billion yuan post-investment.

In March, Star Era completed a strategic financing of 1 billion yuan, with a post-investment valuation of 10 billion yuan.

Another noteworthy development is that on March 18th, the robot rental platform "Qingtianzu" completed a multi-million yuan angel round of financing, with investors including Yuehua Entertainment and Mingjia Capital—an investment institution co-founded by Huang Xiaoming. Yuehua Entertainment, an idol management company, has also begun to enter the robot rental market.

Following the Spring Festival Gala, sales of Yushu humanoid robots skyrocketed. When robots start performing folk dances and martial arts, they become consumer products with entertainment and high-traffic appeal. Entertainment capital recognized this opportunity.

The funding rounds are also rapidly advancing. Many companies have completed multiple rounds of financing in less than a year, with Pre-A, A, and A+ rounds coming one after another. DeepStar, Lingyu Intelligent, RoboParty, and Gesong Technology, among others, completed angel or Pre-A rounds of financing in March, with amounts ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yuan.

The logic behind this is: the sector is too hot, there's too much funding, and too few good projects. Institutions are afraid of missing out, so they have to rush to get started.

at last

Let's go back to the moment when Lei Jun thanked Wang Xingxing.

On the surface, this is an investor thanking the founder for giving them the investment opportunity. But the deeper meaning is: thanking Unitree for proving that the humanoid robot industry is truly valuable, and thanking Wang Xingxing for making it possible for everyone's bets to pay off.

Unitree's IPO has opened up new possibilities for hard technology companies in the A-share market and paved the way for more than 20 other companies to follow suit.

Of course, the challenges remain enormous. "Brain" technology is still immature, the overseas trade environment is complex, and industry competition is intensifying—all of these risks are clearly outlined in Yushu's prospectus. But the market is willing to price in these risks because everyone believes that embodied intelligence is the ultimate form of AI.

In the "Statement to Investors" in the prospectus, Wang Xingxing wrote: "2026 marks the 10th anniversary of Unitree Technology. For the past ten years, we have always kept our original aspiration in mind, dreaming of using technology to promote the progress of human society. At present, we are on the eve of a global breakthrough in AI and embody intelligence technology, and at the dawn of humanity's journey towards a higher civilization."

This narrative may seem grand, but when spoken by the founder of a company about to go public, it's hard not to be moved. After all, by 2025, Unitree Robotics aims to sell 5,500 robots, achieve revenue of 1.7 billion yuan, and maintain a gross profit margin of 60%.

For those early investors in Unitree, they only need to do one thing:

Thanks, Wang Xingxing, now I'll wait to count the money.