AGILINK raises nearly 1B yuan as robotic hand maker hits $1B valuation

Chinese robotics startup AGILINK has raised nearly 1 billion yuan (about $147 million) in an early-stage round, lifting its post-money valuation past $1 billion. The company makes dexterous robotic hands and grippers for embodied AI and humanoid robots.

AGILINK has moved fast, closing four rounds in five months since its founding — what it calls the quickest ascent to unicorn status in the dexterous-hand sector. The startup was spun out of the robotic hand division of Zhiyuan Robotics (AgiBot).

The round drew a large syndicate spanning strategic, industrial, and financial investors. Backers include Mirae Asset, C Capital, We Venture, Shanghai Dianke Fund, Dongfeng Asset, Guoxin Zhongshu, and Jingming Capital, alongside continued support from existing shareholders GL Ventures and BlueRun Ventures.

AGILINK's products range from multi-degree-of-freedom five-finger hands to lower-cost grippers, targeting algorithm and data collection, humanoid and general-purpose robot integration, and both industrial and research use. It said the funds will go toward mass-production expansion, its data flywheel, and contact-intelligence model research.

The capital marks a shift in market focus — from building prototypes to delivering at scale and building data and model barriers. Whether AGILINK can execute on volume manufacturing while sustaining a $1 billion valuation remains the open question.

The round shows capital concentrating quickly around dexterous hands and embodied AI, with 2026 deals in the space favouring industrial capital, large internet firms, and follow-on bets from existing investors. AGILINK's presence of players like Mirae Asset and Dongfeng Asset points to embodied-AI hardware entering a phase of tighter capital and industry coordination.