CFP

AsianFin -- After a six-month hiatus, former Huawei "Genius Youth" Peng Zhihui has secured another round of funding for his robotics startup Agibot Robotics.

Tencent Investment is leading the fundraising effort, with participation from Huajin Capital, Longcheer Technology, Wolong Electric Drive, ZJ Venture, TCL Fund, Huafa Group, and BlueRun Ventures.

This marks Tencent Investment's first foray into embodied intelligence, with the company now holding a 2.0591% stake in Agibot Robotics. Meanwhile, industry insiders report that Agibot Robotics is already in discussions for another funding round at a valuation of 15 billion yuan (US$ 2.07 billion).

This follows a September 2024 investment from THU Capital, iSoftStone, CAS Star, and BlueRun Ventures, according to Tianyancha App.

Peng, born in 1993 in Jiangxi, China, gained prominence for his hands-on robotics expertise showcased in videos during his years at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. His innovative projects earned him the title of top tech influencer and Huawei "Genius Youth".

Following his tenure at OPPO's AI Lab as an algorithm engineer, Peng joined Huawei in November 2020 under the Genius Youth program, earning an annual salary of 2.01 million yuan as an Ascend AI Edge Computing Specialist. He left Huawei in December 2022 to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions and co-founded Agibot Robotics in February 2023 to develop general-purpose robots.

On August 18, 2024, Agibot Robotics introduced the Agibot Embodied Intelligent Robot "RAISE A1", a humanoid robot designed for advanced AI-driven interactions. RAISE A1 boasts a 175 cm height, 55 kg weight, 49 degrees of freedom, and a max speed of 7 km/h. The robot demonstrates bipedal walking, intelligent task execution, and human-machine interaction capabilities.

To date, Agibot Robotics has built a full-stack "robot body + AI" technology platform, featuring three primary product lines: RAISE, Genie, and Insight. The company has achieved mass production, with over 1,000 units already manufactured.

On March 10, 2025, Agibot Robotics launched its first general-purpose embodied AI model, Genie Operator-1, built on the Vision-Language-Latent-Action (ViLLA) architecture. This system integrates multimodal large models (VLM) and a Mixture of Experts (MoE) framework to enable robots to learn from human demonstrations, enhancing their adaptability and intelligence.

The field of embodied intelligence has seen a surge in corporate interest and investment. China’s 2025 Government Work Report has identified embodied intelligence as a key strategic focus, signaling significant growth potential for intelligent robotics.

The embodied intelligence sector has seen a flurry of activities from major industry players, with Ant Group recruiting for multiple high-paying AI and robotics-related positions, JD Exploration Research Institute partnering with Digua Robotics to launch an industry-first atomic skill library for embodied intelligence, and Baidu Intelligent Cloud collaborating with Agibot Robotics to integrate AI models with hardware solutions. Meanwhile, iFlytek has teamed up with Unitree Robotics to develop a robotic super-brain platform, while home appliance giants like Midea and Haier Smart Home—along with smartphone maker vivo—have all announced new robotics research and development initiatives, signaling a broad industry push into next-generation intelligent automation.

Agibot Robotics' latest funding round has attracted strategic investors such as Wolong Electric Drive, which now holds a 0.7594% stake in the company. The collaboration aims to advance research and development in robotic intelligence, industrial automation, and flexible manufacturing solutions.

Sir Robotics, a subsidiary of Wolong Electric Drive, has signed an equity investment agreement with Agibot Robotics. The two companies plan to develop integrated AI-driven robotics solutions for industrial and commercial applications, further accelerating the commercialization of humanoid robots.

The embodied intelligence sector is entering a new phase of rapid expansion, fueled by strategic investments and policy support. With Tencent, Baidu, and major industrial players joining the race, the industry is likely to witness breakthroughs in AI-driven robotics and real-world applications.

(Note: 1 USD equals 7.18 yuan)