RoboSense sells robot unit to founder-led startup for $8.9M
What's the deal? RoboSense (02498.HK) has sold its entire humanoid robot business — research, manufacturing, and sales — to Shenzhen Xiyuan Robot for US$8.23M (roughly $8.9 million) in cash. The buyer, founded in July 2026, is controlled by RoboSense founder and chairman Qiu Chunxin, with co-founder Xie Xing as legal representative.
Why now? The September 10 sale landed just days before Xiyuan disclosed an angel round backed by H CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Matrix Partners China, and Source Code Capital; the amount was not disclosed. Splitting the unit lets the startup raise money without draining the listed company's balance sheet.
What each side does: RoboSense makes incremental robotics components — lidar, spatial cameras, tactile sensors, and joint motors — and counts several humanoid robot makers among its customers. Xiyuan now holds all the patents, inventory, and equipment tied to RoboSense's full-machine efforts, including the humanoid and delivery robots shown at CES 2025 and CES 2026.
The strategic logic: A component supplier building its own robots risks competing with the very customers it sells to. Offloading the loss-making unit protects RoboSense's neutrality and lets it focus on parts.
By the numbers: The deal was struck at a premium — the business carried an unaudited net book value of just US$327.8K at the end of June 2026, and RoboSense expects a net gain of about US$5.21M. In the first half of 2026, its robotics and other lidar shipments rose roughly 510% year on year, making robotics a key revenue driver.
What could go wrong? Because Qiu controls 35% of the buyer, the transaction is a connected deal under Hong Kong listing rules. Investor unease pushed RoboSense shares to a year-low of US$1.99 intraday the day after the announcement; the stock closed at US$2.04, down 1.75%, for a market value near US$959.8M.
The signal: RoboSense is not the first lidar maker to carve out robots. Hesai's three co-founders launched Sharpa in late 2024, keeping it wholly separate from the listed company, while Hesai's own robotics work stays in-house on the components path. Different structures, same aim — the listed firms keep steady lidar revenue, and founders hold the long-dated option on full machines as the industry redraws the line between parts and products.
Read more: sohu.com
Image credit: K3NMA
