Hangjiashuo Robotics
September wraps up: 49 deals, CNY 10.83 billion. The number of events dropped by only 4, while the total amount decreased by more than a third. Putting these two figures together tells the whole story of September—the investors are still active, but the scale of their investments has shifted gears.
01. What Dropped Was Not the Number of Deals, but the Mega Deals
49 deals, a month-on-month decrease of 7.5%; the 42 deals with disclosed amounts totaled CNY 10.83 billion, a month-on-month drop of 38.3%.
The overall pool has shrunk, yet the structure has flattened. The median amount per deal dropped from CNY 140 million to CNY 105 million; the proportion of the top five largest deals decreased from 59.3% to 46.0%. Out of the 42 deals, 21 fell in the CNY 100 million to CNY 500 million range, and 18 were below CNY 100 million, accounting for a combined 93%. Only 2 deals exceeded CNY 1 billion—yet these two alone captured 35.5% of the total funding this month.
No one is placing billion-yuan mega bets in a single go anymore, but the door for mid-tier deals remains open.
02. The Two Most Expensive Deals Are Neither in the Body Nor in the Brain
The two largest deals in September by amount: D-Robotics' USD 400 million Series C round (led by Mirae Asset and followed by Meituan Strategic Investment) and SemiDrive's approximately CNY 1 billion (two consecutive rounds, C+ and C++), totaling CNY 3.84 billion. Neither company focuses on humanoid robot bodies—D-Robotics develops robot chips, along with a software stack integrating data collection, model training, simulation verification, and inference deployment; SemiDrive's main business is vehicle control and cockpit chips, included in this list under the robot industry chain scope.
Looking further down the list, the density at the foundational level is still increasing: 5 deals in the systems and platforms category—Qianjue Technology, Moying Technology, Zhongyi Embodied, etc.—all focusing on "how to integrate robots."
This does not mean the "brain" sector has cooled down. The brain and model category still ranked first in the number of events this month, with 12 deals, accounting for nearly a quarter. However, the total amount was only CNY 2.78 billion—compared to CNY 4.29 billion for the same category in August.
Ranking first in deal count but dropping by 35% in amount sends a clear message: capital still recognizes the importance of the "brain," but is no longer willing to pay a premium for "larger parameters."
03. 10 Deals in Tactile Sensing, Zero in Pure Dexterous Hands
The most crowded track in September was tactile sensing and perception: 10 deals, the largest category on the hardware side.
Pacini Sensing raised hundreds of millions in its B++ round, with Samsung taking a strategic stake, bringing its cumulative financing to over CNY 4 billion—it just raised CNY 1 billion in August; XJCSENSOR Technology raised hundreds of millions in its Series B round for 6-axis force sensors; Xense Robotics raised hundreds of millions in a strategic round focusing on visual-tactile sensing; Tujian Technology raised over CNY 100 million in its Pre-A++ round for electronic skin; Shutu Technology raised nearly CNY 100 million in its Pre-A round for SynaTac tactile sensing, having just closed a round in August.
Among these 10 companies, 5 are still at Series A or earlier. New companies in this track can still secure their first round of funding.
In contrast, for the dexterous hands themselves: 3 deals in July (Xinuowei CNY 500 million, Lingqiao Intelligent hundreds of millions, Yuequan Bionics hundreds of millions), 3 deals in August (Lingzhang Technology and Ruiyan Zhikong each raising tens of millions), and zero in September under the scope of this list.
There is another case in public reports not included in this list: Sharpa (a second venture by the founding team of Hesai Technology) disclosed for the first time in September that its cumulative financing exceeded CNY 4.5 billion, with a post-money valuation of approximately CNY 22 billion. Looking at them side by side, the direction is clearer—companies that can secure large funding are building the entire chain of dexterous hands plus tactile sensing, data, and the main body; those merely selling a single hand are seeing their financing window narrow.
04. State-Owned Capital Appears in the Investor List of 60% of the Deals
Another figure deserves more attention than the amount: out of the 49 deals, state-owned capital or local government industrial funds appeared in the investor lists of 29 deals, accounting for 59.2%.
Hangzhou Runmiao and Hangzhou Talent Fund invested in Zhuoyin Intelligent; Jinan Xianxing and Zibo High-Tech Zone Venture Capital invested in Youbaote; three funds in Chengdu jointly invested in Borui Zhixin; two industrial funds in Beijing jointly invested in Tujian Technology; Xigao Tou invested in Lanchong Embodied; and Hefei Guotou and Nanshan Zhanxin invested in D-Robotics.
Industrial players are also stepping in: Samsung invested in Pacini Sensing; Ant Group invested in JQ Industries and Tianji Intelligent; JD.com led the investment in Nuoyin Intelligent; Sanhua Holdings invested in Xirang Kaiwu; Luxshare Precision's family fund invested in Liwei Ganzhi; Sunny Optical and MetaX jointly bet on Zhi Nuo Robot; and UAE-based Stone Venture led the investment in Zhishen Technology. A total of 18 deals involved industrial players or CVCs, accounting for 36.7%, roughly flat with August.
The source of funds has changed, and so has the pace. Pacini Sensing, Nuoyin Intelligent, and Shutu Technology closed rounds in August and immediately followed up in September; SemiDrive's C+ and C++ rounds, and Xirang Kaiwu's seed and angel rounds, all closed two consecutive rounds within a single month. When state-owned capital provides a safety net at the table and industrial players endorse the companies, valuations no longer wait for the market to validate them.
Conclusion
Breaking down September, only one thing actually happened: the mega money stopped, but the smaller money did not.
The total amount of funding retreated by 38%, and mega deals dropped from 3 to 2. The focus of financing announcements is also shifting back—using the same set of keywords, out of the 42 companies that disclosed the use of funds in August, 30 mentioned mass production, capacity, production lines, or delivery; in September, out of 40 companies, only 21 did. However, early-stage funding was not frozen: 20 seed and angel rounds, plus Pre-A rounds totaling 25, accounting for more than half; the follow-on investment rate from existing shareholders was 32.7%, basically flat with August.
Therefore, this is not about the "industry cooling down," but rather a shift in pricing standards: the ability to actually get things done is worth more than the ability to hype things up in the last three months of this year.
This article is compiled based on publicly available online information, for reference only, and does not constitute investment advice.