Beijing-based Galaxea AI has secured more than $100 million across two new financing rounds, pushing its valuation to $700 million and intensifying the race against Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in humanoid robotics, Forbes reported.
The company, founded in September 2023 by a team of scientists from Tsinghua and Stanford universities, says its mission is to build embodied intelligence at a global scale: "10 billion robots for 10 billion people."
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Major Investors Back China's Fastest-Rising Robotics Startup
Galaxea AI announced on July 9 that its A4 and A5 rounds closed this year with combined proceeds exceeding $100 million, led by Capital Today, Meituan's Long-Z Investments, and Meituan's strategic arm, with continued support from investors such as Ant Group, IDG Capital, Baidu Ventures, GL Ventures, and FunPlus. The latest rounds bring cumulative fundraising to nearly $210 million, marking a more than threefold increase in valuation since early this year.
Co-founder and Co-Chief Science Officer Xu Huazhe, a Stanford-trained engineer now teaching robotics at Tsinghua, told Forbes that the company is accelerating commercialization of its R1 humanoid robots priced between $44,500 and $64,000. Galaxea aims to ship up to 1,000 units by December, split between China and overseas markets, including the U.S.
The company already serves more than 40 clients, including Huawei Cloud, Volkswagen, Haier, Samsung, ByteDance, Physical Intelligence, Stanford University, and MIT, with applications in algorithm training, robotics deployment, and embodied AI data collection.
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Tesla's Optimus Faces Rising Chinese Competition
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly promoted the Optimus humanoid, telling investors in April that he expects Optimus to dominate the field while predicting Chinese companies will take most other top spots. According to Forbes, analysts warn that China's humanoid sector resembles its electric vehicle industry a decade ago, when dozens of firms fought for market share before a wave of consolidation.
Galaxea has introduced its proprietary G0 AI model to improve robots' ability to understand language, perform reasoning, and execute complex tasks like making beds. Forbes says its next major release will be the two-legged humanoid planned for 2026.
Xu told Forbes that household integration will follow industrial adoption, predicting robots capable of cooking, sweeping, and cleaning homes within a decade.
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China's State Push Meets Global Demand for Embodied AI
China has declared humanoid robotics a national priority, establishing a $138 billion government fund in March to accelerate development across artificial intelligence and robotics, Forbes reported. The Chinese government also staged the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing earlier this month, featuring competitors from 16 countries in soccer, dance, and combat challenges.
Galaxea says it is the only Chinese startup simultaneously led by two AI professors, giving it world-class expertise in perception, locomotion, and manipulation. Its R1 series, including R1 Pro and R1 Lite, forms part of a broader ecosystem combining standardized hardware, massive datasets, and developer tools to create what the company calls "embodied intelligence infrastructure."
By year-end, Galaxea expects its workforce to grow from 120 to 200 employees, Forbes reported. Despite no recorded revenue in 2024, the company projects tens of millions of yuan in 2025 sales and is targeting profitability in 2026.
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