ME News reports that on April 16 (UTC+8), Yishi AI announced the completion of a Pre-A round exceeding $450 million, setting a new record for the largest single financing in China’s embodied AI history. Within just one year, the company has emerged as a leader in the first tier of the embodied AI industry.Notably, this is Yishi AI’s second time breaking the industry’s financing record. In the second quarter of 2025, Yishi AI completed China’s largest angel round to date—$242 million. One year later, with a $455 million Pre-A round, the company has further shattered the previous record for the largest Pre-A financing in China’s embodied AI history, as well as the largest single financing in the industry.The oversubscription of this round stems from continued high-level recognition and strong backing from top-tier domestic and international investment institutions. Investors span four key dimensions, forming a rare constellation of elite capital:On the financial investor side, Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia China jointly led this round. Notable financial funds including Meituan Dragonfly, CICC Capital, Kailian Capital, Oriental Fortune Sea, and Junshan Investment participated as follow-on investors.On the strategic investor side, Meituan Strategic Investment, as a key cornerstone shareholder, significantly increased its stake and co-led the round. Existing shareholders including Qiming Venture Partners, Linear Capital, Blue馳 Capital, Xianghe Capital, and Hongtai Fund also made strategic additional investments.On the industrial investor side, TCL Capital, Futeng Capital, Shoucheng Holdings (0697.HK), Jianfa Emerging Investment, Hengxu Capital, and Guoqi Investment have all joined as new investors, significantly accelerating the company’s commercialization across diverse application scenarios.On the state capital side, the Beijing Robotics Industry Development Investment Fund and Shanghai State-Owned Investment Pioneer have jointly invested in an embodied AI company for the first time. Their participation aligns with China’s “15th Five-Year Plan” for robotics industry development and supports Yishi AI in becoming a leading enterprise in regional embodied AI value chains, driving industrial cluster upgrading.Since its founding, Yishi AI has remained steadfast in its mission, achieving multiple key technological milestones. It pioneered breakthroughs in complex flexible cable assembly—long regarded as the “Goldbach Conjecture” of industrial automation—and set a Guinness World Record for “the most number of sub-millimeter cable assemblies completed by a robot within one hour.”Meituan stated: “We have long recognized embodied AI as a strategic next-generation productivity tool. We believe the ultimate future of embodied AI belongs to companies that can seamlessly connect data, models, and the physical world. Yishi AI has demonstrated forward-looking core technological breakthroughs in embodied large models and possesses exceptional engineering capabilities to translate technology into real-world productivity. We look forward to Yishi AI rapidly driving scalable applications across the embodied AI industry.”A project lead at Hillhouse Capital said: “In embodied AI, we closely evaluate whether a team’s judgment on key technological pathways is sufficiently forward-looking and whether they can truly deploy cutting-edge technologies into real-world scenarios. What impressed us most about Yishi AI is that since its early days, the team has held clear and unwavering convictions on end-to-end models, world models, and reinforcement learning—not merely as theoretical concepts but as directions continuously validated by product and application progress. Simultaneously, the team combines cutting-edge AI capabilities with deep industry understanding and complex systems engineering execution, effectively linking data, models, embodiment, and real-world contexts. They are steadily advancing toward the long-term goal of general-purpose robots while consistently accumulating capabilities and delivering value through real-world applications in the medium to short term. Hillhouse’s continued support stems from our confidence in their ability to turn long-term technical visions into tangible industrial outcomes.”Dr. Chen Yilun, CEO of Yishi AI, said: “The company has achieved a series of密集 technological breakthroughs and practical milestones across full-stack AI deployment, a human-centric data paradigm, and AWE3.0—the world’s first ‘work-capable’ general-purpose embodied large model—laying a solid foundation for future growth. Yishi AI is committed to building trustworthy physical AI and becoming China’s first mover in next-generation manufacturing productivity.”Li Zhenyu, Chairman of Yishi AI, said: “This round of financing will accelerate the development of the general-purpose embodied large model AWE and attract top-tier industry talent. The next round will focus on building robots that truly work and can be mass-produced. The company will actively engage in global competition and bring Chinese embodied AI to center stage on the world stage.”(Source: Ifnar)Source:Show originalDisclaimer: The information on this page may have been obtained from third parties and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of KuCoin. This content is provided for general informational purposes only, without any representation or warranty of any kind, nor shall it be construed as financial or investment advice. KuCoin shall not be liable for any errors or omissions, or for any outcomes resulting from the use of this information.Investments in digital assets can be risky. Please carefully evaluate the risks of a product and your risk tolerance based on your own financial circumstances. For more information, please refer to our Terms of Use and Risk Disclosure.
