Sharpa Robot Discloses First Financing: Over 4.5 Billion, Valuation at 22 Billion

Beating AI Newsflash: General-purpose robotics company Sharpa has completed cumulative financing exceeding 4.5 billion yuan, with a post-investment valuation of 22 billion yuan. This marks the company's first public disclosure of its financing. Investors include Alibaba, Meituan, Tencent, JD.com, as well as Sequoia China, Qiming Venture Partners, and Meituan DragonBall. Sharpa was co-founded at the end of 2024 by Hesai Technology CEO Li Yifan, CTO Xiang Shaoqing, and Chief Scientist Sun Kai, focusing on dexterous hands, general-purpose robots, and related AI models. Sharpa is currently prioritizing real commercial scenarios and is not rushing into household applications. The company has set three standards for "truly capable robots": no environmental modifications for robots, tasks completed entirely by the robot itself, and tasks that are sufficiently complex and have practical value. The first application scenario is a DQ store. Robots are required to directly use the equipment originally operated by store employees to complete approximately 55 steps and independently produce a Blizzard ice cream. The comprehensive training for the first scenario took less than five months, and the current speed is about half that of a human employee. Li Yifan believes that if humanoid robots with over 70 degrees of freedom are only used for tasks that simple robotic arms can accomplish, the business model would not be viable. He also predicts that in the realm of Physical AI, it is unlikely for a company to emerge that solely focuses on creating "brains" like OpenAI. The ultimate winner will resemble Apple, mastering hardware, data, models, and complete systems simultaneously. Sharpa aims to first fully penetrate scenarios such as dining, hospitality, and retail, and then attempt to enter households starting in 2028. [Original Link]