Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group is accelerating its push into humanoid robotics, leading a 500 million yuan ($73.6 million) funding round in Chinese robotics startup Zeroth as the company expands beyond fintech and artificial intelligence into one of the fastest-growing frontiers of AI-powered hardware.
The investment marks Ant’s latest move to build a strategic presence across China’s emerging robotics ecosystem. According to CNBC’s analysis of PitchBook data, it is the 12th robotics-related company Ant has backed since the start of 2025, underscoring its ambition to become a major player in the convergence of artificial intelligence, robotics and intelligent automation.
The latest financing round also attracted investors including Monolith, Geely Capital, 37 Interactive Entertainment, and Hua Capital. Following the pre-Series A funding, Zeroth has raised a cumulative 1 billion yuan, giving it additional resources to accelerate research, production, and commercialization of humanoid robots.
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The investment comes as China’s technology giants increasingly see humanoid robotics as the next major growth market after generative AI. Industry executives believe advances in large language models, multimodal AI and computer vision are rapidly making general-purpose robots commercially viable across manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and household services.
For Ant Group, the move represents another step in its transformation following the dramatic regulatory intervention that halted its record-breaking initial public offering in 2020.
Since then, the company has diversified well beyond its Alipay digital payments business, investing heavily in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, healthcare technology and robotics. It has launched healthcare platforms, developed its own foundation AI models and, in late 2024, established a dedicated humanoid robotics subsidiary, RobbyAnt, which has since begun developing its own robots.
Rather than focusing solely on building its own hardware, Ant is also investing broadly across the robotics value chain. Its portfolio includes humanoid robot developers such as Galaxea and Unitree, alongside companies specializing in robotics software, wearable robotics and key components, including Linkerbot, Hypershell and Genrobot AI.
The strategy mirrors trends of major technology companies seeking exposure to every layer of the emerging robotics ecosystem, from AI operating systems and motion control software to sensors, actuators and complete humanoid platforms.
Ant has also adapted its Alipay ecosystem for the robotics era.
The company recently introduced an AI- and robotics-friendly version of its Alipay payment platform, enabling intelligent machines to integrate payment capabilities directly into their services. Zeroth said it hopes to collaborate with Ant in deploying that technology as humanoid robots become increasingly capable of performing commercial and consumer tasks.
Founded only in late 2024, Zeroth Robotics, officially known in China as Suzhou JoyIn Intelligent Technology, is pursuing a phased strategy toward building humanoid robots for homes.
Founder Guo Renjie previously told CNBC that the company plans to commercialize sophisticated consumer robots over several stages. The first products will target companionship for elderly care and pet care, followed by robots designed for children’s education, before eventually expanding toward broader household assistance.
Guo said the company has deliberately recruited engineers with deep expertise from industries such as smartphone chip development to strengthen its hardware capabilities. Its robots currently run on processors supplied by Horizon Robotics, one of China’s leading artificial intelligence chip companies.
The startup says customer demand has exceeded expectations.
Zeroth claimed it has secured orders for more than 30,000 robots, while operating revenue during the first half of the year surged 600% compared with the same period last year, underpinning growing commercial interest in AI-powered service robots.
The company is now preparing for its international expansion.
Guo said Zeroth plans to begin selling its products in North America and Europe this autumn after completing the necessary regulatory and compliance approvals required in those markets.
The investment comes amid intensifying competition in China’s rapidly expanding humanoid robotics sector. Beijing has designated humanoid robotics as one of its strategic emerging industries, encouraging investment through national and local government initiatives aimed at positioning China as a global leader in next-generation intelligent manufacturing.
Artificial intelligence breakthroughs are further accelerating development, enabling robots to understand language, reason through tasks and interact more naturally with people.
International technology companies are also increasing their presence in China’s robotics ecosystem. Earlier this week, Nvidia announced it was recruiting for multiple robotics-related positions in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
The hiring push follows a wave of investment across the sector as companies race to commercialize humanoid robots capable of performing complex tasks in factories, warehouses, hospitals and homes.
Analysts expect investment in humanoid robotics to continue accelerating over the next several years as advances in AI models, semiconductor performance and motion control technologies bring commercially viable general-purpose robots closer to large-scale deployment.