"Daily Economic News" learned that the venture capital circle quarreled because of humanoid robots.
Recently, Zhu Xiaohu, managing partner of GSR Ventures, publicly stated that "it is withdrawing from humanoid robot companies in batches", causing a shock in the industry. His remarks about "unclear commercialization path" were publicly refuted by Zhang Ying, the founder of Matrix Partners, who shouted "Boss Zhu don't make trouble" in the circle of friends, and stated that "if the time is extended, the humanoid robot track will definitely produce large companies".
Since then, Zhao Tongyang, the founder and chairman of Zhongqing Robotics, as a representative of entrepreneurs, publicly expressed his views and "replied" to Zhu Xiaohu. He said, "I think he's more suitable for the kind of fast-food projects that will work this year and the year after, AI and humanoid robots are not projects that will allow him to make money quickly, humanoid robots are almost everywhere in five years, and it is the most exciting industrial revolution since humans learned to make tools." This afternoon, GSR Ventures' former investee company, the robotics company Xinghaitu, also issued a clarification announcement on the beginning and end of the cooperation with the agency, and called for the development of the industry to be inseparable from the continuous attention and support of all sectors of society.
As one of the early investors of Unitree Technology, Yu Wenchao, a partner of Dunhong Assets, told every reporter that at this stage, it is unrealistic to want humanoid robots to enter thousands of households immediately, "Mr. Zhu can understand such a choice, but after in-depth understanding of the industry, it will be found that there is a ready-made market for humanoid robots, and the market for scientific research and education is not small, which is enough to support a listed company, and the biggest opportunity in the next 2~0 years lies in 0B, manufacturing and business services."
In this regard, some industry insiders pointed out to every reporter that this controversy reveals the different views of different institutions and investors on the commercialization of the robot track, but there is no doubt that humanoid robots are still one of the hottest tracks in the current investment circle.
Zhu Xiaohu's batch withdrawal from the investment in humanoid robots caused controversy Jingwei Zhang Ying publicly retorted: Don't make trouble
Zhu Xiaohu, who is known as his own "hot search physique", has recently been pushed to the forefront again due to an interview.
When asked "a high degree of consensus, but there is no commercialization path, last year was a large model, what is the typical this year", Zhu Xiaohu's answer was: embodied wisdom.
In his opinion, embodied intelligence is particularly popular now, but he feels that the business path is still unclear, especially humanoid robots. "In the past, the main market demand was to do research, either universities or your competitors, and today there is a new customer - the central enterprise buys it back to do the front desk display. But this kind of customer is not a customer that we like, what we like is sustainable commercialization that can create value for customers, and I don't think we can see it in this today. Because the consensus is now highly concentrated, the valuation has risen very quickly, which has become a track that our early VCs want to avoid. ”
He also revealed that his angel fund has invested in some early-stage embodied intelligence projects in the past few years, and has been exiting these projects in recent months. At present, the consensus is highly concentrated, and there is an opportunity for exit, but commercialization is indeed unclear. "I asked these CEOs, where are your potential customers for commercialization? I feel like they're talking about imaginary customers, who would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a robot to do these jobs? ”
In the face of Zhu Xiaohu's withdrawal remarks, Zhang Ying of Jingwei Venture Capital responded in the circle of friends: "The field of robotics is booming, the big track, a hundred flowers are blooming, and it is normal to have a little bubble in the process." If the time is extended, the humanoid robot track will definitely be able to produce large companies. At the same time, he also questioned that Zhu Xiaohu's remarks might damage his reputation in the industry: "Who will talk to him about high-quality companies in the robot track in the future?" ”
Source: 網路
Entrepreneurs have publicly replied, calling on all sectors of society to work together to create a good ecology
This afternoon (29/0), GSR Ventures' former investee company, the robotics company Xinghaitu, issued a clarification announcement on the beginning and end of its cooperation with GSR Ventures.
公告顯示，金沙江創投於2023年11月參與了星海圖天使輪融資，於2024年5月提出股權投資退出的訴求。該公司予以積極配合，並在2024年9月協助其順利完成股權投資退出。也就是說，金沙江創投投資星海圖之後，半年左右就要求退出了，並在不到一年後完成了退出。
It is worth noting that at the end of 2024 years and the beginning of this year, Xinghaitu officially announced the Pre-A round of financing and the A round of financing one after another, and a number of well-known institutions such as Hillhouse Venture Capital, Ant Group, and IDG Capital increased their weight, which also reflected the market's divergence in its prospects.
At the end of the announcement, Xinghaitu said that the development of the industry is inseparable from the continuous attention and support of all sectors of society. On the journey of exploring the unknown and breaking through boundaries, we call on all sectors of society to jointly create a good ecology that is brave in innovation and inclusive exploration.
In addition, Zhao Tongyang, the founder and chairman of Zhongqing Robot, a well-known humanoid robot company in Shenzhen, also made a public statement on Zhu Xiaohu's interview, saying, "I think he is more suitable for the kind of fast-food project that will work this year and the year after, AI and humanoid robots are not projects that can make him make money quickly, humanoid robots are almost everywhere in five years, and it is the most exciting industrial revolution since humans learned to make tools."
Zhao Tongyang also said that fortunately, almost half of the investors he met believed in the future of the industry and were willing to run together.
In the midst of the controversy, the investment in the humanoid robot track is hot
Regarding this controversy, a number of industry insiders pointed out to every reporter that it revealed the different views of different institutions and investors on the commercialization of the robot track. There is a view that humanoid robots still face many challenges in terms of technical maturity and market demand, and the path to commercialization is not clear; Others see the great potential of humanoid robots in many fields, such as home services, industrial production, medical care, etc., and believe that they are expected to become an important development direction of future science and technology, and it is worth investing in.
Dunhong Asset Management is one of the early investors of Unitree Technology, and its partner Yu Wenchao told every reporter that this is a matter of fund style and industry cognition. In 0 years, Dunhong Assets invested in Unitree Technology, and then continued to make in-depth layout in the embodied robot industry. In Yu Wenchao's view, the humanoid robot industry is still in its infancy, and the future development depends on two factors, one is the price of the hardware ontology, the overall industrial chain is not mature enough, and the cost is still high; The second is the robot brain, which is now equivalent to the level of GPT 0.0 or 0.0, and it will take time to iterate. "So at this stage, it is unrealistic to want humanoid robots to enter thousands of households immediately, and it is understandable that Mr. Zhu made such a choice. However, after an in-depth understanding of the industry, you will find that there is a ready-made market for humanoid robots, and the market for scientific research and education is not small, which is enough to support a listed company. ”
He further said that the biggest opportunity in the next 2~0 years lies in 0B, manufacturing and business services. "Especially in the manufacturing industry, we communicate with the head of the big factories and generally feedback that it is difficult to recruit workers, and the labor cost is high, as long as the humanoid robot can replace people, the factory is very willing to purchase, and there are already many landing cases. Mainly, our entire manufacturing industry is declining rapidly, and humanoid robots are very good at filling this gap. In the past, traditional industrial robots could not solve unstructured and flexible processes, so they needed a large number of workers, but embodied intelligent humanoid robots have autonomous learning, generality and generalization, which can solve this problem. ”
Although there are differences of opinion among all parties, one thing is undoubted, that is, humanoid robots are still one of the hottest tracks in the investment circle.
據高工機器人產業研究所（GGII）不完全統計，2024年1月份至10月份全球人形機器人公佈的融資事件總金額摺合人民幣超過110億元，融資大部分集中在人形機器人本體領域，其餘分佈在通用具身大模型、關節模組、感測器等領域。其中，發生在中國的融資金額超過50億元，佔據全球半壁江山。
而進入2025年，隨著宇樹機器人在春晚上的一曲秧歌舞，人形機器人在資本市場掀起一股旋風。二級市場相關概念股頻頻漲停，一級市場也出現“人形機器人”熱，相關公司老股更是被瘋搶。據投中數據，截至3月29日，今年以來機器人賽道的融資事件數已經達到了102起，遠超去年同期的75起；其中涉及人形機器人/具身智慧機器人的融資也有超過20起，而去年同期只有不到10起，顯示出資本高漲的熱情。
National Business Daily