• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy
    • Terms of use
  • Advertise
    • Advertising
    • Case studies
    • Design
    • Email marketing
    • Features list
    • Lead generation
    • Magazine
    • Press releases
    • Publishing
    • Sponsor an article
    • Webcasting
    • Webinars
    • White papers
    • Writing
  • Subscribe to Newsletter

Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

  • Home
  • News
  • Features
  • Editorial Sections A-Z
    • Agriculture
    • Aircraft
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Automation
    • Autonomous Vehicles
    • Business
    • Computing
    • Construction
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Drones
    • Economy
    • Energy
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Humanoids
    • Industrial robots
    • Industry
    • Infrastructure
    • Investments
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Marine
    • Material handling
    • Materials
    • Mining
    • Promoted
    • Research
    • Robotics
    • Science
    • Sensors
    • Service robots
    • Software
    • Space
    • Technology
    • Transportation
    • Warehouse robots
    • Wearables
  • Press releases
  • Events
ubtech Star-Wars-First-Order-Stormtrooper

Artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics startup UBTech raises $820 million in latest funding round

May 18, 2018 by Sam Francis

UBTech Robotics, a developer of intelligent humanoid robots, announced today the completion of its Series C investment totaling $820 million with a market valuation of $5 billion, the single largest funding round ever for an artificial intelligence company.

The investment was led by Tencent, and also includes funding from ICBC, Haier, Minsheng Securities, Telstra, Easyhome Furnishings, Chia Tai Group, China Minsheng Bank, China Film and TV Capital, CGN, Sichuan Railway Investment Group, Green Pine Capital Partners, Whale Capital, and Shenzhen JinFuZi Network Technology.

The lead investor of UBTech’s Series B funding, CDH Investments, also participated. 

As part of its investment, Tencent will work closely with UBTech on future product development.

Tencent has already worked with UBTech, launching the humanoid robot Qrobot Alpha last December – the first robot to feature the Tencent Cloud Xiaowei service; and the personalized educational robot Alpha Ebot in February which integrates the high-quality, comprehensive, and open AI services and interactivity of the Tencent Dingdang assistant.

James Zhou, UBTech founder and chief executive officer, says: “We are honored and gratified by this investment, the exceptionally high quality of our investors, and the strategic initiatives we will be able to launch as we innovate a new era of consumer robots.

“As technology evolves to include more voice and touch capabilities, people need new devices that communicate and interact more naturally and intuitively at home, at school and at work.

“While trends in robots and robotics are developing, no company has yet stepped forward with the resources, vision and products ecosystem to transform robot fantasy and fiction into robot reality.

“UBTech is bringing this reality to life by expanding the possibilities for innovation.”

Zhou said the latest capital infusion represents a new round of strategic funding, with UBTech and Tencent committed to building an ecosystem of services and content for intelligent, humanoid robots.

Zhou said the proceeds from this funding round will mainly be used for research and development, market and brand expansion, as well as talent recruitment.

For research and development, UBTech will increase investment in large-size humanoid robots, humanoid robot servo, gait planning and motion control algorithms, computer vision, and more.

For market and brand expansion, UBTech will accelerate its deployment in the global market and improve its brand awareness worldwide.

For talent recruitment, UBTech will continue its plan to hire workers from around the world. UBTech has already made key, global hires, including:

  • Professor Tao Dacheng from the University of Sydney, who is also an academician of Academia Europaea, as UBTech’s artificial intelligence chief scientist;
  • Professor Zhao Mingguo from Tsinghua University as UBTech’s humanoid robotics chief scientist;
  • Former IEEE president Howard Michel as UBTech’s director;
  • Jimmy Zhang, as UBTech’s CFO and secretary of the board of directors; New Fortune Gold Medal Secretary for three consecutive years
  • Michael Tam as UBTech’s chief brand officer, formerly CEO Ogilvy fashion and President of Hogarth & Ogilvy China; and
  • inventor Tomotaka Takahashi, father of the Robi robots, as its chief product officer.

Since its founding in 2012, UBTech has introduced several groundbreaking consumer humanoid robots, including:

  • the Alpha series interactive system of robotic building blocks;
  • JIMU Robot;
  • the Cloud-based intelligent humanoid service robot Cruzr; and
  • the Star Wars First Order Stormtrooper Robot (in partnership with Disney).

UBTech’s “revolutionary”, bi-pedal Robot Walker gained international recognition for gait planning and motion control algorithms, computer vision, machine learning, emotion recognition, and SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping).

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket

Related stories you might also like…

Filed Under: Computing, Humanoids, News Tagged With: humanoid robots, star wars robot, ubtech, ubtech robotics

Primary Sidebar

Search this website

Latest articles

  • Mendaera receives FDA clearance for handheld robotic system for ultrasound-guided needle placement
  • Prime Vision robots optimize K-Parts order picking for motorbike spares
  • Vidnoz Review: The Free AI Video Generator That’s Redefining Content Creation
  • Cases Motorcycle Injury Lawyers Consider
  • How a Truck Accident Lawyer Protects Your Rights
  • Loomia launches tactile sensing developer kit to accelerate robotic skin innovation
  • Top 10 Laser Tube Cutting Machines Manufacturers in the World 2025
  • The creation of new AI careers: 4 high-paying jobs that didn’t even exist five years ago
  • RoboCup 2025 brings the world’s top robot soccer teams to Brazil
  • COBOD unveils ‘multifunctional construction robot’ made with TU Braunschweig

Secondary Sidebar

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT