Chinese humanoid startups are rushing to list
Humanoid robot startup LimX Dynamics showcases its products at its Shenzhen, China office on July 3, 2026.
Evelyn Cheng | CNBC
BEIJING — Humanoid startup LimX Dynamics is preparing to go public, just four years after it was founded during the pandemic.
“Listing is essential,” said founder Will Zhang, emphasizing the importance of timing. He was speaking to reporters ahead of the company’s announcement Tuesday that it had raised $200 million in a pre-IPO round.
Zhang likened the situation to electric car initiatives in China Nio, xpeng And Li AutoIt was repeatedly listed in the US from 2018 to 2020. “When technology matures, [the company] is not listed, then like WM Enginemay disappear,” he said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.
According to a press release, several overseas investors, including UAE-based Stone Venture, Italy-based GGG and Germany-based Redstone VC, participated in LimX’s latest round, which valued the startup at 15 billion yuan ($2.21 billion).
The startup said it was preparing for an IPO, possibly in Hong Kong, and was in a confidential review phase.
The urgency comes as China now owns more than 100 humanoid companies, falling under the national push for “embodied artificial intelligence.”
Reflecting the rapid increase in interest, investment in the sector reached 47.09 billion yuan ($6.95 billion) in the second quarter, according to industry data provider Xiniu; This figure has more than doubled from the first quarter and more than sixfold from the same period last year.
A new phase
China fast-tracks approval for humanoid company Unitree to list in Shanghai, while Hong Kong considers applications more than 500 companies across sectors.
“Competitive pressure is likely to continue as more industrial and collaborative robot companies potentially go public,” Morgan Stanley said in a report last week, noting that industry players DeepRobot and Leju will soon be included in the list.
The investment firm predicts 18% growth in China’s industrial robot market this year and shipments of 50,000 humanoid robots.
LimX aims to create fully autonomous commercial service robots. The company said it would launch a multi-year plan to ship thousands of humanoids to the Middle East and deliver its entertainment-focused Luna humanoid to customers in South Korea.
According to founder Zhang, the technology behind humanoid robots has already crossed the “0 to 1” line in terms of innovating from scratch. The next barrier to entry, he said, lies in making a good product that meets users’ needs.
The statement stated that other backers in the latest financing round included Chinese precision parts company Lens Technology, IDG Capital, WestSummit Capital, Nio Capital and Hefei Binhu Industry Development Group.
