Robot startups invest while raising, fueling 'raise-and-invest' debate
Citing the Securities Times, 36Kr reports that a group of robot and embodied-AI startups founded only two to three years ago are still unprofitable yet hold billions of yuan in funding, and are simultaneously raising money and investing in other companies — a pattern becoming more common in China's primary market. Two embodied-AI supply-chain companies, Juxie Intelligence and Moxian Technology, recently announced completed funding rounds at the same time, and both counted the same embodied-AI decacorn unicorn among their investors. The trend is concentrated in embodied AI, large models and AI chips, and is most visible in robotics, with more than ten companies including AgiBot, Songyan Power and Galbot having started investing this year.
When startups redeploy raised capital into peers, it can amplify valuation and funding-loop risks across the embodied-AI sector and is a useful gauge of capital heat there.