Chinese robotic startup Hachibot has scored USD 10 million in a pre-Series A round led by Northern Light Venture Capital and joined by Plum Ventures, the two investors revealed on Thursday on their respective official WeChat accounts.
Harry Shum, former executive vice president of Microsoft, and Lei Ming, one of Baidu’s founding members, also contributed in this round. They also serve as consultants for the startup.
Hachibot was founded at the end of 2019 by Shen Zhenyu, who joined Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) at its early stage and later served as CEO of online travel agency Qunar, which was merged into Ctrip (NASDAQ: TCOM) in 2015.
The company has designed a model robot, which walks inside homes and interacts with humans, with an intelligence equal to that of a 5-year-old child, the startup claims.
Even though it hasn’t yet decided the final visual appearance of the robot, which is anticipated to be some sort of companion animal, and has yet to mass produce it, Hachibot says that the price won’t exceed RMB 5,000 (USD 724).
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This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.