China’s robotics unicorn UBTECH Robotics announced on Thursday it has closed a Series C round worth US$820 million led by Tencent with participation from big-name investors including ICBC, Haier, Chia Tai Group, Credit Ease, and Easy Home, at a valuation of US$5 billion, planning to focus on commercialization which is the top priority for the company this year according to UBTECH CEO ZHOU Jian.
Prior to the investment, Tencent and UBTECH have jointly launched two robots for educational purposes bundled respectively with Tencent voice assistant Xiaowei and Dingdang.
Apart from Tencent, UBTECH’s prominent allies include Apple, Amazon, and Disney. Outside of China, its robots are sold in over 40 countries in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, contributing to its sales volume which is projected to top RMB 2 billion (around US$ 314.5 million) this year.
Source: 36Kr