(Yicai) July 7 -- Robotera has raised CNY500 million (USD70 million), which the Chinese humanoid robotics startup said it will use to scale up research and development and its already rapidly expanding production.

The Series A funding round was led by asset manager CDH Investments and Haier Capital, a subsidiary of home appliances giant Haier Group, Beijing-based Robotera announced today. Other investors included Houxue Capital, Meridian Capital, and existing shareholder Crystal Stream Capital.

From January to May this year, investment in Chinese robotics startups topped the total for all of last year, according to data from market research firm IT Juzi. Companies in the sector raised CNY23.2 billion (USD3.2 billion) between them, eclipsing 2024’s CNY20.9 billion. Eighty-seven percent of the funding went to those firms working on embodied artificial intelligence.

Set up two summers ago by a research team from Tsinghua University, one of China's top universities, Robotera is one of the firms racing to develop embodied AI, or systems that are integrated into physical agents such as robots, drones, or simulated avatars that perceive, act upon, and learn from their environments in a continuous feedback loop.

The company unveiled a new service robot last month, called the Q5, which uses stereo vision and light detection and ranging sensors to move around complex spaces without needing human instructions. Its ERA-42 model features advanced understanding, prediction, and behavior, allowing it to perform numerous complex tasks, such as using a screwdriver.

Robotera, whose clients are mainly big technology firms and research institutions, such as Haier, Lenovo, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University, has already started mass production. The firm has delivered over 200 units so far this year, and hundreds of additional orders are in production, it said.

The company has also been expanding its overseas client base since the start of the year, with revenue from foreign markets now accounting for more than half of its income.

Editor: Tom Litting