Shunwei leads $23m round for Chinese robotics player

The company, which was founded in 2015 and received $6 million in Series A funding from THG and Delian Capital last year, manufactures light robots and robot operating systems. It produces five types of robots that carry weights of 4-20 kilograms. They are typically used by customers in the apparel, new energy, consumer electronics, and automotive industries.

Rokae has an R&D center in Beijing and a production plant in Shandong province with a capacity of up to 2,000 robots a year. The proceeds of the new round will be used to enhance the company’s research capabilities and build a smart manufacturing base that covers more than 100 acres, according to a statement.

“With rising labor costs in China, there is an unprecedented opportunity for industrial robots. The payback period for investments in robotics companies has been shortened from three years to one year because of huge demand for these products,” said Meng Xing, an executive director at Shunwei.

Rising labor costs are in part a function of demographics, with China's working-age population decreasing in size in recent years due to the one-child policy, which has now largely been abolished. The country has been the world’s largest industrial robot market since 2013. A total of 141,000 robots were purchased in 2017, up 58.1% year-on-year, but foreign brands account for nearly three-quarters of that.

There have been several PE and VC investments in the space, including a $60 million Series B round last year for Geek+, which produces robots for use in logistics and warehousing. In the consumer humanoid robot segment, Ubtech Robotics received an $820 million Series C in May, while Roobo closed a Series B of $54 million.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Early-stage
• Technology
• Industrials
• China
• Shunwei Capital Partners
• manufacturing