Unitree provides its G1 humanoid robotic for $13.5K. | Supply: Unitree
This week, Unitree Robotics made its debut on Shanghai’s STAR Market, closing its first day 460% greater. The corporate raised 6.1 billion yuan, round $905 million U.S., with its preliminary public providing. Unitree mentioned it’s the first main legged robotics firm to go pubic.
Because it was based in 2016, Unitree has made headlines for its low-cost quadruped and humanoid robots. The Hangzhou, China-based firm, formally Yushu Expertise Co., is finest recognized for its humanoids, that are utilized in analysis labs all over the world.
You’ve possible seen movies of Unitree’s G1 robotic dancing, doing kung fu, or backflipping, amongst different issues. As well as, the corporate provides robotic arms, arms, and lidar.
Unitree this week additionally unveiled its newest robotic, which it known as “Superman” and mentioned it developed in simply three months. The humanoid can carry out a standing soar of over 6 ft. (2 m) and attain a high pace of round 41 ft. per second (12.6 m/s or 27.9 mph).
The IPO marked an enormous milestone for Unitree, however the firm nonetheless faces many challenges because it continues to develop. It additionally raised questions on which humanoid firms, within the U.S. and overseas, will observe in its footsteps.
Can Unitree legged robots make the leap to industrial work?
Unitree has gained loads of momentum in recent times. It went from promoting simply 5 humanoids in 2023 to promoting 5,215 in 2025, making it a world chief in humanoid robotic gross sales.
Be aware, nevertheless, that round 70% of those robots went to universities and analysis establishments. Unitree’s robots have but to show they will stand as much as arduous industrial work.
“Quantity makes an excellent IPO story. However fewer than 10% of Unitree’s gross sales are for industrial deployments. The lion’s share of their robots are in labs and lobbies,” Gavin Kenneally, CEO of Ghost Robotics, advised The Robotic Report. “Unitree might want to reveal that they will construct secure, safe robots that prospects can depend on within the hardest real-world environments.”
Now, Unitree is going through extra challenges in terms of gaining momentum within the U.S. In July, the Federal Communications Fee, or FCC, restricted imports of sure robots produced in overseas nations. This contains cell robots comparable to humanoids and quadrupeds. The ban applies to new units, which suggests Unitree might have hassle promoting its future fashions within the U.S.
“Unitree has confirmed it might promote robots. It hasn’t confirmed their operational sturdiness, repeat enterprise, or a use case that warrants deployment at scale,” mentioned Nicolaus Radford, CEO of Persona AI. “With the FCC threatening future U.S. gross sales, traders are being requested to take it on religion that [what appears to be] 1000’s of one-off gross sales will by some means grow to be a sustainable enterprise.’
Will Unitree Robotics pave the best way for different humanoid IPOs?
Unitree Robotics isn’t the primary humanoid developer to go public. In 2023, UBTech, a Shenzhen, China-based firm, went public on the Hong Kong inventory trade. Nevertheless, UBTech hasn’t seen the identical momentum that Unitree has.
Final 12 months, UBTech misplaced round $104 million, while Unitree made a revenue of round $41 million, a soar from the $14 million it made in 2024, and the $1.6 million it misplaced in 2023.
Moreover, UBTech provides garden mowers, pool cleaners, and vacuums, which make up round 1 / 4 of its income. UBTech claimed that it bought 1,079 humanoid robots in 2025, whereas Unitree makes all of its earnings from its robots.
Within the U.S., a pure-play home humanoid developer has but go public. Agility, the developer of the Digit humanoid, reportedly has plans to go public by way of a particular goal acquisition firm or SPAC.
The deal would worth Agility at a $2.5 billion pre-money fairness valuation. The SPAC behind the deal, Churchill XI, noticed a bump in its shares this week with Unitree’s IPO.
Whereas SPACs are a non-traditional path to going public, they’ve grow to be a extra frequent technique for robotics firms. In 2021, a number of firms, together with Berkshire Gray, Sarcos, Symbotic, and Vicarious Surgical, took the identical route.
Nevertheless, a SPAC, isn’t simply a simple option to go public. Actually, many firms that took this route in 2021 have struggled to realize monetary footing since.
Different main humanoid builders within the U.S., like Boston Dynamics (which is owned by Hyundai) or Figure AI, haven’t disclosed any plans to make a public providing.
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