China's Embodied AI 16-Unicorn Club Forms as Funding Surpasses 373 Billion Yuan

Unprecedented Funding Momentum

Market capital is continuously seeking the next growth outlet. Following internet, mobile, new energy vehicles, and large models, embodied intelligence has become the new container carrying all capital imagination for future productivity.

IT桔子 data shows that since the beginning of 2026, the domestic embodied AI track has witnessed over 200 financing events, averaging 2.5 events per day. In February and March alone, monthly financing amounts exceeded 100 billion yuan. By mid-March, cumulative industry financing surpassed 373 billion yuan, far exceeding 70 billion yuan in the same period of 2024 and 126 billion yuan in 2025.

The 16-Unicorn Club

In July 2024, Unitree Technology stood at the top with about 8 billion yuan valuation, while most companies had relatively close valuations, and the industry was still in a scattered state with heroes emerging everywhere.

However, in just over a year, the number of Chinese embodied AI companies valued at over 10 billion yuan has expanded to 16, including:

• Unitree Technology
• Agibot
• Galaxy General
• Mech-Mind
• Independent Variable
• Qianxun Intelligence
• Stardust Era
• Xingdong Era
• Zhibianliang
• Linkerbot
• Sixth Sense
• Zhongqing
• Yun Shen Chu
• Xingchen Intelligence
• Fei Yue
• Pudu Robotics

In other words, valuations below 10 billion yuan are increasingly struggling to enter core capital tables.

Financial Investors, Industry Giants, and State Capital

Financial investors, industry giants, and state-owned capital are all entering the scene simultaneously. Leading institutions such as Sequoia China, Hillhouse Capital, and IDG Capital are actively deploying. Industry giants including Alibaba, CATL, SAIC, BYD, and SF Group are all making strategic investments.

State-level artificial intelligence industry funds and Beijing robot industry development investment funds have also entered. By November 2025, nearly 30 robotics industry chain companies had submitted listing applications to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, forming a complete closed loop between primary and secondary markets.

Strategic Shift: From Brain First to Production Line First

Industry leaders have made judgments that embodied AI has transitioned from laboratory demonstrations and showcase displays to the second half of engineering and scenario-based competition. Founder of Agibot judged at the beginning of the year that the industry had entered the engineering and scenario-based competition phase; Galaxy General founder believes the entire industry is exploring the timing of robot replacement in 2026; Unitree founder's focus has also shifted from model capabilities to shipment volumes.

If 2025 solved the problem of whether robots could be made, the core proposition of 2026 is how to make robots accomplish things.

Factory Deployment Accelerates

Embodied AI is beginning to enter factories one after another:

• Galaxy General Galbot S1 has achieved normalized autonomous operation in CATL factories, with 24/7 full autonomous operation in battery factories, improving material handling efficiency by over 30% compared to traditional manual labor
• Qianxun Intelligence's self-developed large model has entered CATL production lines, with success rate stabilized at over 99% in precision operations such as plugging
• Agibot products have entered production lines of enterprises including Longcheer Technology and Joyson Electronics, having completed the delivery target of 3,000-5,000 units
• UBTECH Walker S1 has entered BYD and Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor production line training
• Zhibianliang has reached a three-year agreement with Huike to deploy over 1,000 robots

Capital Flows to Entire Industry Chain

Capital is no longer only chasing humanoid robot本体 companies but also spreading to upstream links including model algorithms, chips, data toolchains, and simulation systems. A complete industry chain around embodied intelligence is being built in advance by capital.