Alibaba Leads $140 Million Investment in Chinese Robotics Startup X Square Robot

Alibaba leads $100 million investment in Chinese humanoid robot startup

BEIJING -- As the race for household robots heats up, Chinese humanoid startup X Square Robot announced Monday it had secured around $100 million in a funding round led by Alibaba Cloud. It's the Shenzhen-based startup's eighth round of financing since the company launched less than two years ago in December 2023, according to Chief Operating Officer Yang Qian. She told CNBC the latest deal brings total investment in X Square Robot to around 2 billion yuan ($280 million). HongShan, formerly Sequoia Capital China, also participated in the latest funding round, along with Meituan, Legend Star, Legend Capital and INCE Capital. Venture capitalists have rushed to pour money into humanoid robots on expectations that their integration with generative artificial intelligence will transform how machines interact with human beings. "Right now we need robots to operate and complete complex tasks autonomously," Yang said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. She pointed out that after decades of trying to develop robots that have largely been able to perform limited tasks such as grasping objects, the industry has realized that AI is required to enable these machines to expand their capabilities.

Alibaba leads $140 million funding round in X Square Robot - The Economic Times

The Hangzhou-based company has said it plans to spend $53 billion on AI infrastructure over three years in a major pivot. Artificial intelligence advancements promise to usher in a new generation of smarter robotics, and Beijing has made developing that sector a national priority.Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-led the latest funding round in robotics startup X Square Robot, as the Chinese ecommerce company is trying to cement its leadership in emerging technologies. The Hangzhou-based company has said it plans to spend $53 billion on AI infrastructure over three years in a major pivot. Artificial intelligence advancements promise to usher in a new generation of smarter robotics, and Beijing has made developing that sector a national priority. Shenzhen-based X Square Robot, founded in 2023, secured 1 billion yuan ($140 million) in the most recent round co-led by Alibaba's cloud unit and state-backed CAS Investment Management Co. Other investors in the Series A+ round include HSG as well as existing backer Meituan and Legend Star, X Square said in a statement. Unlike some of its larger rivals, such as Hangzhou's Unitree Robotics, X Square has been focusing more on algorithms powering robotics rather than hardware, founder and Chief Executive Officer Wang Qian said in a recent interview with local outlet The Paper. On Monday, the startup unveiled its Wall-OSS open source foundation model. It appears to be a move to compete with Open AI-backed Physical Intelligence, which is trying to build high-level intelligence into a wide variety of robots and machines. X Square's website advertises three physical products - two wheeled robots and a robotic arm, at a time that many local startups are touting two-legged humanoid offerings. Chinese robotics firms, especially those making humanoid products, have been trying to capture wide global attention this year by putting on their creations for marathons and boxing matches. State-backed funds are flocking to a sector that Citigroup expects a size of $7 trillion globally by 2050.