Dexmal, a Chinese robotics startup, is in talks to raise new funding at a valuation of roughly 20 billion yuan, or about 3 billion dollars, according to founder Tang Wenbin. The talks are ongoing and were disclosed around the World Robot Conference in Beijing, where the company has been showing off its work in physical artificial intelligence.
Physical AI, the branch of the field aimed at giving robots the ability to perceive and act in the real world rather than just process text or images, has become one of the more closely watched corners of China's technology industry. Dexmal is positioning itself as a serious player in that race, and the scale of the valuation it is seeking reflects how much capital investors are willing to commit to the space.
The new round follows earlier fundraising that included Chinese AI lab Z.AI, also known as Zhipu, according to Tang. Before that, Dexmal had already drawn backing from e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and NIO Capital in a round late last year, giving the company a mix of strategic technology and venture investors behind it.
Dexmal's push comes amid a broader wave of funding into Chinese robotics companies, with multiple firms in the sector recently reaching unicorn status as investors look for opportunities beyond large language models. China's robotics industry has drawn particular attention for combining hardware manufacturing strength with fast moving AI research, a pairing few other countries can match at the same speed.
A valuation near 3 billion dollars would place Dexmal among the more highly valued robotics startups in China, alongside other companies that have closed large rounds in recent months. Whether that valuation holds once the round is finalized will depend on how investors weigh the company's technology against a growing field of well funded rivals chasing the same breakthroughs in physical AI.