Chinese robotics startup lands Nvidia deal and $616M IPO approval

Unitree Robotics got the green light from the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday for its STAR Market IPO. The company is looking to raise 4.2 billion yuan, which comes out to around $616 million.

During the same week, Nvidia announced it would use Unitree hardware as the base layer for its first humanoid robot system built for researchers.

Nvidia picks Unitree for its robotics research platform

Nvidia said Monday its Isaac GR00T humanoid robot developer platform will support Unitree’s G1 humanoid robot. The setup also includes a new reference design that combines Unitree hardware, Nvidia’s Jetson Thor computing system, running on Blackwell chips, and mechanical hands from Singapore-based Sharpa.

The platform targets universities and research labs. Stanford University, the University of California San Diego, and ETH Zurich are among the institutions testing it. Nvidia designed the system so researchers can test and deploy humanoid robots without needing to build every layer of hardware and software from the ground up.

U.S. lawmakers have been scrutinizing Unitree over alleged ties to the Chinese government. Some have floated restrictions on its use in federally funded research. Nvidia said it’s also working with humanoid robot makers in the United States, Europe, and South Korea.

Nvidia added that software updates would run through its chips to verify authenticity and guard against malicious code. It’s extending data center security features like secure boot and confidential computing to humanoid robots.

Unitree IPO puts $616 million toward robot R&D

Unitree plans to funnel the IPO proceeds into intelligent robot model research, new product development, and construction of a manufacturing base.

The Hangzhou company’s revenue trajectory is steep. Operating revenue climbed from 159 million yuan or ~$23.5 million in 2023 to 393 million yuan or ~$58 million in 2024. Then it hit almost 1.7 billion yuan or ~$251 million in 2025. The company’s net profit jumped 674% year over year in 2025.

Humanoid robots drove the growth. The category accounted for more than half of Unitree’s revenue in the first nine months of 2025, up sharply from the prior year.

STAR Market opens fast lanes for strategic tech

Unitree is the second company to file under a pilot prereview mechanism that the China Securities Regulatory Commission introduced in June 2025. The mechanism was designed to fast-track IPO applications from high-quality technology firms.

Timothy Pope, a market analyst for CGTN, told Bastille Post that Unitree reflects a broader policy shift. Chinese regulators are creating “curated green channels” for companies in sectors the government considers strategically important. Embodied AI, semiconductors, and aerospace all qualify.

“The problem for a lot of young companies in these sectors is that they reinvest almost everything that they make into R and D, which makes it very difficult for them to list on the stock markets, because there are profit-and-revenue rules governing listing,” Pope said.

Other high-profile listings are moving through the same framework. Changxin Memory Technologies, China’s flagship memory chip developer, cleared its committee review last week for a planned 29.5 billion yuan or ~$4.4 billion IPO. Commercial rocket maker LandSpace is pursuing a 7.5 billion yuan (~$1.1 billion) raise for reusable launch vehicle development.

The IPO and Nvidia deal position Unitree for its next growth phase, but the company’s hardware is already deployed in real-world operations. Japan Airlines began a three-year trial of two Unitree humanoid robots at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in May 2026. They’re being used for baggage handling, container transport, and cabin cleaning. Each unit costs about $15,400 according to a previous post by Cryptopolitan.

Unitree was among the first companies globally to commercialize high-performance quadruped robots for industrial use. The company specializes in humanoid and quadruped robots, robot components, and embodied AI models.

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