Billion Dollar Financing! Cleaning Robots Off The Wall Rolled Out To Sea?

Robots really kill crazy in the beginning of the year 

2024, robotics circle good news frequently, a number of hundred million yuan financing rounds bombardment, people have to sigh a wave: we robot seems to be really "good up"......

Nowadays, service robots are quietly changing our lives, especially in the field of cleaning, cleaning robots have just become a synonym for "niche luxury" in the era of intelligence. However, the fierce competition in the domestic market, so that many companies have to look to overseas markets.

(hereinafter referred to as "Xiazhi Technology") announced the completion of the Pre-A+ round of financing invested by Ivy Capital, and in the second half of 2023, the company has completed a round of financing jointly led by Easy Investments, ICP Venture Capital and Haisong Capital. In the second half of 2023, the company has completed Pre-A round financing of tens of millions of dollars jointly led by Easy Investment, ICP Venture Capital and Haisong Capital. It is reported that the two rounds of financing amounted to nearly 100 million yuan, and the funds raised will be used to accelerate the product development of commercial cleaning robots, channel laying and the expansion of overseas markets.

Together with the beginning of the new year, the first shot of the cleaning robot overseas financing, a year of hundreds of millions of dollars in financing "Hanyang Technology", seems to indicate that a new round of overseas boom is coming. And was fully involved in overseas competition, "outside the walls of the bloom" of the intelligent cleaning track, and can "outside the walls of the incense" it?

Backed by ZTE, two rounds of financing in six months

Xia Zhi Technology was founded by ZTE founder Hou Weigui in Nanjing in 2021, the company focuses on "intelligent service robots", "AI + 5G fusion" two major technology direction layout, hoping to continue product innovation and technology iteration, service industry.

Following the Pre-A financing in October last year, less than half a year, Xiazhi Technology continues to make efforts to complete the Prea-A+ round of financing, two rounds of financing amounted to nearly 100 million RMB.

According to the information of Enterprise Search, after the completion of this round of financing, the number of shareholders of the company increased to 13, and the new shareholder, Shanghai Ivy Capital, ranked 9th with a shareholding of 2.7027%.

The first 4 shareholders of the company are all related to ZTE. Among them, ZTE Development Co., Ltd. is the largest shareholder, holding a shareholding of up to 31.2162%; the second shareholder is the Hainan Joint Investment Partnership, its executive partner Fang Rong, joined ZTE in 1995, is now both a non-executive director of ZTE Corporation, but also the legal person of XIAZHI Technology; the founder of ZTE Legend, Hou Weigui, and its legal person of Shenzhen ZTE Versantone Equipment Company Limited, were ranked third and fourth shareholders. Ranked third and fourth among the shareholders.

Many people do not know that ZTE is involved in the field of robotics, but ZTE's entry into robotics has actually been 7 years.

In 2017, ZTE launched an intelligent customer service robot "Xiaoxing", which can provide users with vertical question and answer interaction services;

In 2021, ZTE released the industry's first industrial AGV load platform ZXAGV_T260 with integrated 5G module;

In 2022, Xiazhi Technology launched Skywalker 50, the first multi-functional indoor cleaning robot, which has high-precision navigation and obstacle avoidance technology, and is capable of executing three modes of floor washing, dust pushing and disinfection, and is suitable for a variety of scenarios such as shopping malls, hotels and office buildings

......

Xiazhi Technology, which is ZTE's AI headquarters, will undoubtedly fully benefit from the parent company's deep accumulation in technology and industrial resources.

Today, 5G communication technology is becoming a key infrastructure for the landing of AI products. Compared with the previous communication technology, 5G has low latency, large bandwidth and other advantages, which can better support intelligent robots and other terminal equipment such as high-definition image transmission, remote control and other functions, to enhance the human-computer interaction experience. Therefore, ZTE's 5G technology, on which Xiazhi Technology relies, will occupy an unrivaled advantage in building commercial cleaning robot products.

And in recent years, ZTE Corporation continues to extend to the manufacturing side, on the one hand, to build their own intelligent factories, on the other hand, with the industry chain of upstream and downstream enterprises for the depth of the binding, which for the Xia Zhi Technology in the future in the overseas realization of the localization of the production of products has laid a solid foundation. At the same time, ZTE has long been deeply cultivated in the global market, has established a perfect marketing and service network overseas, Xiazhi Technology can use these channels to quickly realize the global coverage of products.

It can be said, backed by ZTE Xia Zhi Technology, compared to other "from scratch" counterparts, the starting point can not be said to be not high.

Short war, the volume on the volume

Consumer-level cleaning robots, compared with the development of mature industrial robots, is undoubtedly still in the early stages of development.

According to data, the current domestic market penetration rate of cleaning robots is less than 5%, and retail sales and retail sales are expected to reach 7.24 million units and 12.9 billion yuan, there is a wide space for growth.

However, on the other hand, the seemingly bright future has led to many companies flocked to the price war at once, and the excessive emergence of "homogenized" commodities also let a lot of people who have been in a wait-and-see state, there is a kind of "want to try to the heart is finally dead" sense of discouragement, even if the Even with the low price of the inner volume, the willingness to pay did not increase significantly.

Flowering outside the wall, the tide of the sea

Looking at the general trend, under the challenges of aging population and recruitment difficulties, commercial cleaning robots can effectively solve the problem of labor shortage in the cleaning industry in the future.

Compared with the white-hot competition in the domestic market, the market shows an oversupply state, the overseas market has high cost, high selling price, labor shortage, the demand for commercial cleaning robots is more urgent, and the willingness to buy is also stronger. Therefore, the sea can not only get rid of the domestic involution quagmire, but also to obtain high sales and high profits.

In fact, cleaning robots going overseas has been kicked off a few years ago, and has occupied half of the country. Data show that by the end of 2022, domestic sweeping robots have occupied more than 50% of the overseas market share, of which the share in Southeast Asia and the European market is as high as 68% and 55%.

And for many companies, going overseas is the best preparation for listing later. On the one hand, good performance in overseas markets can help attract a higher amount of financing; on the other hand, the sizable shipments will also be as a bright "report card", become a strong proof of listing.

Cleaning robots to go overseas, both the market environment changes, but also driven by the business needs of enterprises themselves, the two interactions, two wheels forward, contributing to the national brand "out of the country, to the world" boom.

Write in the end

Although the opportunity is rare, but commercial cleaning robots to successfully go to sea still face many challenges. One issue that needs urgent attention is the localization strategy, that is, how to make the product better integrated into the local market.

In general, localization needs are mainly reflected:

First, the differences in application scenarios, such as in hotels and hospitals and other places, different countries and regions on the requirements of cleaning and hygiene standards, there are large differences in the need to adjust the parameters of the targeted settings; Second, the differences in language and cultural practices, even if there is no voice function of the robot, its human-machine interface and other functional design still need to take into account the cultural differences, otherwise it is difficult to be accepted by the local users; Third, the difference in infrastructure conditions, different countries or regions, infrastructure development. The degree of infrastructure development in different countries or regions is uneven, and enterprises need to adjust the adaptability of robot perception, planning and other core modules according to the local environment.

No matter what industry, can not deeply understand the market demand for products, is difficult to continue to eat in the global market, only continuous innovation, in order to achieve continuous leadership.

Undoubtedly, commercial cleaning robots going overseas has become an irreversible trend. This is not only the inevitable choice of domestic enterprises in response to the fierce competition in the domestic market, but also a rational layout to benefit from the vast space and cost advantages of the overseas market. Whether it is to solve the real needs of labor shortage, or to enhance productivity to create more value, commercial cleaning robots play an important role.

Currently, the cleaning robot market is being reshaped, with technological advances, application scenarios are rich, the penetration of robotic products will continue to soar, overseas 2.0 dividend era may come.