Unitree Robotics, the Hangzhou-based maker of quadruped and humanoid robots, priced its initial public offering on Shanghai’s STAR Market at 150.8 yuan (about $21) per share, valuing the company at roughly 61 billion yuan (about $8.5–9 billion), according to a Shanghai Stock Exchange release. The offering raised about 6.1 billion yuan ($849 million) through the sale of 40.45 million new shares — 10% of its enlarged share capital. Trading begins August 19, making Unitree the first general-purpose humanoid-robot maker listed on mainland China’s exchanges, a milestone for China’s robotics industry.

Demand for the shares was extraordinary. Retail subscriptions oversubscribed the offering more than 8,000 times over, a record for the STAR Market, while institutional bookbuilding drew orders for roughly 2,761 times the shares on offer, according to the exchange. The scramble left retail applicants with an allocation rate of about 0.018%, among the tightest of any recent Chinese tech listing.

Rapid growth, thinning margins

Unitree’s revenue climbed from about 159 million yuan in 2023 to 1.7 billion yuan in 2025, with net profit of 278 million yuan last year; international sales made up nearly 44% of 2025 revenue. Growth has come at a cost, though — first-quarter 2026 profit fell 54.6% year-over-year even as revenue rose 68.5%, as the company increased spending on marketing and R&D. Between 2023 and 2025, Unitree built more than 33,000 quadruped robots and 5,600 humanoids, with humanoid shipments topping 5,500 units in 2025 alone. Founder Wang Xingxing will retain a 31.3% stake and 65.3% of voting rights after listing; Tencent, Alibaba and DeepSeek are among its strategic investors.

A crowded, contested field

The listing arrives as Unitree jockeys with rivals such as AgiBot for leadership of the global humanoid-robot market, and as Chinese manufacturers face new friction abroad — Washington’s FCC last month barred imports of new Chinese-made humanoid and quadruped robots, citing national-security concerns. Bankers say Unitree’s pricing will set a valuation benchmark for the dozens of Chinese robotics firms reportedly preparing their own listings, many in Hong Kong, as the sector races to capitalize on investor enthusiasm before it cools.