China robotics firm Unitree eyes IPO filing this year

Unitree Robotics has filed pre-initial public offering (IPO) documents with China’s securities regulator, a move that analysts said signalled that the industry is moving from “laboratory to commercialisation”.

The Hangzhou-based start-up hired Citic Securities to “assist the company in preparing documents to apply for an IPO and listing” by December, according to a document filed with the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s (CSRC) Zhejiang branch, which was published on Friday.

Unitree said that over the next three months, its employees would learn what they would need to do as part of a listed company and it would make sure its property, trademarks and patents were properly handled. It also said it would set out clear business objectives.

The company was on track to become the first humanoid robot maker to list on a mainland bourse. Earlier this month, Shanghai’s AgiBot said it would buy a controlling stake in publicly traded Swancor Advanced Materials, paving the way for a back-door listing. But AgiBot said that was not its intention.

Hong Kong has some listed robotics stocks, including UBTech Robotics and Dobot Robotics. Both are based in Shenzhen.

The interest in stock markets reflected the growing need of China’s robot makers to raise more funds as they move towards commercialisation, analysts said.

“When a leader in the technology sector starts with an IPO, it often means that the industry has moved from ‘laboratory technology breakthroughs’ to ‘product scale-up and commercialisation’”, said Qian Wenying, the secretary general of the Research Centre for AI and Management Innovation at the China Europe International Business School.

_{China robotics firm Unitree eyes IPO filing this year}

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