SoftBank leads $200m round for China’s Keenon Robotics

CICC Alpha, a direct investment platform under China International Capital Corporation (CICC), and Prosperity7 Ventures, a fund controlled by Saudi Aramco, also took part. It is described as the largest-ever funding round in the service robot field.

The capital will go towards R&D and supply chain enhancement, improving sales and service capability, and expansion into new application scenarios and markets, according to a statement.

Founded in 2010, Keenon initially focused on food delivery scenarios - its robots worked in restaurants, transporting dishes to tables. The company broadened its scope to include hotels, KTV parlors, and hospitals. 

It claimed in March 2020 to have more than 1,000 corporate customers in 400 cities across China, serving over 65% of the country's 100 largest restaurant chains, including hotpot player Haidilao and Hangzhou cuisine specialist Waipojia. Most restaurants rent robots at a cost of around RMB3,000 ($466) per month.

Keenon has expanded into the Americas, Europe, South Korea, and Singapore. Prosperity7 will help it enter Saudi Arabia.

Total shipments to date exceed 20,000. The company generated nearly RMB100 million in revenue in 2019. It did not provide updated figures on announcing the Series D.

“We believe robotic solutions can have a profound impact across the services industry by assisting with repetitive, tedious workflows," said Kentaro Matsui, a managing director at SoftBank and formerly a managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.

"Using AI [artificial intelligence] and machine learning, combined with advanced manufacturing capabilities, Keenon is building innovative robotics to help increase productivity for restaurants, hotels, and hospitals in China and globally,” 

According to a report by the International Federation of Robots, the global professional service robot market will be worth $27.7 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, the Chinese Institute of Electronics estimates the country's service robot market will hit $8 billion the same year, accounting for a 30% global share.

Keenon raised a Series C round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia in December 2020, following a RMB200 million Series B in March led by Source Code Capital. Existing investors Yunqi Partners and iVision Venture Capital re-upped. They led a Series A in 2016 and returned, with Seekdource Capital, for a pre-Series B.

China Renaissance served as the exclusive financial advisor for the Series D.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• TMT
• CICC
• Softbank
• manufacturing