Funding surge powers Chinese robotics firms as focus shifts to humanoid ‘brains’

Chinese robotics firms continue to secure fresh financing, including from state-backed funds, as investors shift focus from hardware to the “brains” of humanoids – the software and operating systems that underpin their intelligence. Alongside hardware-centric companies like Unitree Robotics, a new wave of firms is emerging with capital directed towards robotic software and operating systems. Shenzhen-based humanoid robot maker LimX Dynamics announced on Monday the completion of its US$200 million series B round. The company last month unveiled LimX Cosa, an operating system for embodied artificial intelligence agents. Physical AI start-up Orca also said on Monday it had completed pre-A and pre-A+ funding rounds. It said its eponymous system was benchmarked against Nvidia’s Omniverse, a platform for virtual worlds that allows developers to build physically accurate simulation environments for training embodied robots. X Square Robot, founded in 2023, completed a 1 billion yuan (US$144 million) A++ round last month. The Shenzhen-based company focuses on developing foundation models for robotics. ByteDance was among the investors, joining previous backers Meituan and Alibaba Group Holding. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The trend showed Big Tech firms were now focusing on training the “brains” of embodied AI, the National Business Daily reported, citing economist Pan Helin. By integrating these “brains” with cloud-based AI, robots could adapt to a far wider range of use cases, addressing the industry’s most critical bottleneck, according to the report. State-backed funds are becoming increasingly prominent in the financing rounds. Hefei Innovation Investment joined LimX Dynamics’ financing round, alongside international investors such as the United Arab Emirates’ Stone Venture and tech giants like JD.com. X Square Robot’s recent financing round was backed by a joint investment from state-backed funds, including the Beijing Information Industry Development Fund, Shenzhen Capital Group, Nanshan SEI Investment and Wuxi Capital, alongside tech giants such as ByteDance and HSG, formerly Sequoia China. It marked the first investment by Shenzhen Capital Group’s AI Fund since its inception. The Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics announced on Tuesday it had completed its first round of financing, raising over 700 million yuan. State-backed funds behind the round included Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, E-Town Capital and Beijing Zhongguancun High Precision Entrepreneurship Investment Fund. Suzhou-based Linkhou Robot, a core component manufacturer for embodied AI, said on Monday it raised more than 100 million yuan from its pre-B funding round. The round was led by Nio Capital, with participation from a fund under CRRC Capital, the investment arm of state-owned CRRC Group. Wuhu-based Openmind Intelligent Robot also announced on Monday the completion of its pre-A round, raising nearly 100 million yuan. The round was led by founding shareholder National Advanced Manufacturing Industry Investment Fund. The robotics sector had completed 85 financing events since the start of 2026, with disclosed funding exceeding 3.3 billion yuan, according to data from corporate information provider Qichacha. The market remains dominated by early-stage activity, as projects at or before series A account for 73 per cent of deals. Shenzhen-based firms lead the surge, representing nearly 32 per cent of the total. Additional reporting by Wency Chen