AI² Robotics Raises Over RMB 1B in Series B

China’s most Tesla-like robotics startup just closed a Series B north of RMB 1 billion, cementing its place in a rarefied club with a valuation above RMB 10 billion.

AI² Robotics announced a Series B round exceeding RMB 1 billion, pushing its valuation past RMB 10 billion and continuing a fundraising sprint that has defined the company’s 2025-2026 arc. After seven rounds in the first half of 2025, the startup locked in five more sizable investments, bringing the year-long tally to 12 rounds. While the article stops short of naming every backer, the cadence signals a rare level of investor confidence in a company that bills itself as a developer, manufacturer, and service provider of productivity-oriented, general-purpose intelligent robots.

Founder Dr. Guo Yandong, widely recognized as an innovation leader in China, has steered AI² into a positioning that is often likened to Tesla’s singular ambition in vehicles: own the stack. The company emphasizes an end-to-end large-model framework, aligning AI development with hardware and deployment in real factories. In other words, AI² is pitching a production-forward maturity model: once you have the software, you scale the hardware and service network in lockstep, a blueprint that investors find attractive in a market hungry for tangible productivity gains rather than point solutions.

Talent is a key part of the equation. AI² touts one of the highest densities of scientists among Chinese robotics startups, including five researchers ranked in Stanford University’s global top 2% list. That IP and capability reservoir matters in a field where data, models, and real-world feedback loops govern performance on the factory floor. The company’s claim to be one of the few to pursue an integrated, end-to-end strategy—from algorithm to actuator—also differentiates it in a crowded field of specialty robotics players.

The rapid fundraising cadence itself is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, a broad base of both private and strategic investors appears to view AI² as a scalable platform play rather than a single product line, a sign that the market expects repeatable deployments across industries. On the other hand, sustaining a dozen rounds in a single year raises questions about governance, burn rate, and the path to sustainable profitability if growth stays capital-fueled. In China’s competitive robotics ecosystem, where component supply chains, local manufacturing capability, and data-sharing norms can become bottlenecks, the ability to convert fundraising momentum into durable, factory-ready products will be the true test.

Two practitioner takeaways stand out. First, the “end-to-end large-model framework” framework demands a tightly choreographed data strategy and compute spine. For manufacturers eyeing AI-powered automation, this means planning for significant on-site AI compute, robust data governance, and tight integration with existing lines—plus the ability to iterate quickly on models with real-world feedback. Second, the talent engine matters as much as the equity round. AI²’s emphasis on high-caliber researchers suggests a strategic bet that sustained performance comes from continuous AI innovation embedded in hardware, not from outsourcing software upgrades. Firms watching this space should consider how to structure partnerships with universities, research labs, and component suppliers to maintain that pipeline.

If the trajectory holds, AI² could accelerate the automation wave across Chinese factories and beyond, nudging suppliers to scale actuators, sensors, and perception stacks in tandem with a growing demand for intelligent, general-purpose robots. The broader implication for global buyers is clear: a China that bet early on embodied AI robotics is moving from pilots to production lines at scale, potentially reshaping sourcing choices and competitive benchmarks for years to come.

Sources

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AI² Robotics Raises Over RMB 1B in Series B, Touted as China’s “Most Tesla-Like” Robotics Startup