KinetixAI and Fangqi Technology secure funding for embodied AI

Chinese robotics startups KinetixAI and Fangqi Technology have secured significant funding to advance embodied artificial intelligence and humanoid robot development.

KinetixAI raised over 500 million yuan (approximately 12 billion yen) in an angel round led by Vertex Ventures, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings. The company aims to develop a universal AI model capable of controlling multiple different robot bodies, such as Unitree Robotics’ G1. KinetixAI has already released the KAI Bot, a full-size humanoid, and its KAI Hand and KAI Halo Lite components are currently being supplied to industrial customers. The company plans to begin small-scale production of general-purpose humanoids by late 2027.

Fangqi Technology completed a multi-million yuan angel round to develop a “universal robot brain.” The startup focuses on semantic world models that integrate visual, linguistic, and physical data to help robots understand and predict the physical world. Utilizing a “Turing learning paradigm,” the company seeks to move beyond simple data accumulation toward scalable, autonomous learning. Fangqi Technology has already established strategic partnerships to pilot its technology in commercial service scenarios.