Zeroth W1, manufactured by Lexiang Technology, has received Wall-E IP certification from the Disney animated film “RoboCop” and will be premiered at AWE 2026 to be held in Shanghai, China on March 15, 2026.
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Beijing — alibaba-Ant Group, an affiliated company, is stepping up its efforts in humanoid robots.
Ant led a 500 million yuan ($73.58 million) funding round for humanoid robot company Xeros, the startup announced on Thursday.
The company is the 12th company in the sector that Ant has invested in since early 2025, according to a CNBC analysis of PitchBook data. The investments CNBC tracks range from humanoid robot companies Galaxea and Unitree to parts and software startups like Linkerbot, Hypershell, and Genrobot AI.
After regulators halted Ant’s mega IPO in 2020, the operator of mobile payment app Alipay launched a healthcare services app and released its own artificial intelligence model. In late 2024, Ant also established a humanoid robot subsidiary called RobbyAnt, and has since developed its own robots.
Ant has released an AI and robot-friendly version of its Alipay mobile payment service, and said this is an area Zeroth would like to collaborate with.
Monolith, Geely Capital, 37 Interactive Entertainment, and Hua Capital also participated in Zeroth’s latest funding round. The pre-Series A funding brought the total amount raised to 1 billion yuan.
The startup’s founder Guo Renjie told CNBC that Zeroth is focused on securing companies with experience in industries such as smartphone chips. He said the company’s robots currently use chips from Horizon Robotics.
Zeroth Robotics, known as Suzhou JoyIn Intelligent Technology in China, was founded in late 2024.
In an interview with CNBC earlier this year, Guo said the startup plans a phased approach to realizing humanoid robots for the home. The company will start with companion robots for elderly care and pet care, and then develop robots for teaching children, he said.
Zeros claimed that it received orders for more than 30,000 units and that operating revenue in the first half of the year soared 600% compared to the same period last year.
Guo said the company plans to begin overseas sales in North America and Europe this fall once local compliance requirements are cleared.
The deal, led by Ant Group, comes amid growing interest in humanoid robots in China. Nvidia The company announced Monday that it is recruiting for several robot-related positions based in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
