Mech-Mind founder blasts rivals over "fraud" days after Hong Kong IPO
What's the deal? Just days after Mech-Mind listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 1, founder Shao Tianlan publicly accused rival embodied-intelligence firms of faking revenue to rush their own listings. In a WeChat Moments post, he named Beijing-based robotics startup Galbot, calling such practices "illegal, immoral and unwise."
The claim: Shao alleged that many "gathering-type" embodied-intelligence companies use "data collection centers" and related-party transactions with local governments, investors, and suppliers to "generate false and unsustainable revenue." He warned that firms doing so risk falling into a "vortex of continuous fraud and blood loss."
The response: Galbot pushed back on September 10, saying it would not engage in "unnecessary verbal disputes" and would keep embodied-intelligence technology and real-world applications at the core of its work. Shao and Galbot founder Wang He are both Tsinghua University alumni.
What the company does: Founded in 2016, Mech-Mind builds AI and 3D vision-guided components for general intelligent robots. It went public billed as "the first stock of embodied intelligence eye-brain-hand."
The numbers: The market response was cold. Mech-Mind's shares broke below their issue price on the first trading day and fell for several consecutive sessions.
Under pressure: Mech-Mind is not yet profitable, with margins squeezed by heavy research and sales spending during an early commercialisation stage. From 2023 to 2025, its cumulative losses exceeded 1 billion yuan.
The signal: The public spat exposes tension inside China's hot but unproven embodied-intelligence sector, where startups race to list amid mounting losses. Shao's accusations put a spotlight on how some firms book revenue — and how markets will scrutinise the next wave of robotics IPOs.
Read more: eu.36kr.com
Image credit: Kitmondo.com
