China's Sankai raises $70M+ Series B for robot gear reducers
What's the deal? Zhejiang Sankai Electromechanical has raised a Series B round of several hundred million yuan, equivalent to tens of millions of dollars. The Industrial Mother Machine Industry Investment Fund and Wuchan Zhongda Investment co-led, with Caitong CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Wenling Haihe Rongzhi participating.
What does it do? Founded in 2007, Sankai was among China's earliest firms to independently develop and mass-produce precision planetary reducers, starting volume production in 2012. Its gearboxes now serve machine tools, CNC equipment, AGV/AMR systems, photovoltaics, medical imaging, and other sectors.
Where the money goes: The funds will deepen research on humanoid robot joint reducers and integrated drive technology, expand production capacity, and accelerate domestic substitution of high-end transmission components.
Why now? Sankai moved into robotics in 2022, launching a harmonic reducer for robots that year and a planetary joint reducer tailored to humanoids in 2024. It has since entered the core supply chains of several leading robot makers, including the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, with steady batch deliveries.
A visible proof point: At the second World Humanoid Robot Games in August, the Tiangong series won 45 medals and set records in sprinting, high jump, long jump, and weightlifting. Its core joint components came from Sankai.
What's the endgame? Early this year, Sankai broke ground on a second plant for an "annual output of 1 million precision gear reducers" project spanning roughly 60,000m². Once operational, it is expected to add about US$137.5M in annual output value through integrated servo motor and drive production lines.
The company plans to push toward modular "motor plus reducer" joint units. "Our goal is to provide plug-and-play, highly integrated joint modules," founder and chief executive officer Jiang Jianbin said, adding that it will not develop drivers itself since most major robot makers build their own.
The signal: Precision transmission remains one of the "bottleneck" components for humanoid robots and high-end equipment. Backing a proven supplier reflects investor appetite for domestic substitution plays as China's humanoid sector scales, following Sankai's A round of over US$13.8M led by Fortune CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → late last year.
Read more: sohu.com
Image credit: jurvetson
