Pudu Robotics, a commercial service robotics manufacturer, has announced completion of a Series C3 financing round raising more than US$15 million. The financing round was exclusively invested by Puhua Capital, with Taihecap continuing to serve as the exclusive financial advisor. The new funds will be mainly used to build a new production base for Pudu Robotics in a move to expand production capacity and develop products for commercial cleaning scenarios.
Pudu Robotics is a leading high-tech company in the field of commercial service robots in China. The company focuses on the R&D, design, production and sales of commercial service robots. It has established a business presence in some 600 cities in more than 60 countries and regions around the world.
With the service industry hobbled by ever mounting challenges in hiring workers worldwide, Pudu Robotics has engaged in a massive expansion beyond the borders of its home market since 2020, achieving rapid growth in shipments. Cumulative global shipments to date exceed 56,000 units, while sales in overseas markets as a percentage of the company’s total has grown from 8% in 2019 to over 80% currently.
As a R&D-driven company, Pudu Robotics has been able to independently research and produce four core components of commercial robots: motors, single-line LiDARs, RGB depth-sensing cameras, and computing platforms & motion controllers.
Felix Zhang, founder and CEO of Pudu Robotics, said the company is developing steadily in the delivery segment, with growth in overseas shipments continuing to accelerate. The company derived 90% of its revenue from sales in 2022. Pudu Robotics has steadfastly refused to chase fast growth by rolling out low-price models or allowing leased products to take up too large a proportion of revenue, ensuring solid operating indicators in terms of payments and collections. In 2022, cash revenue from operations increased by nearly 40% year on year, with shipments exceeding 20,000 units. High-end models, most notably the BellaBot, are widely recognized across global markets. Japan’s leading restaurant group Skylark ordered 3,000 BellaBots in one go, setting an industry record.
Pudu Robotics’ current product lineup includes indoor delivery robots, PuduBot, PuduBot 2, BellaBot, KettyBot, HolaBot and SwiftBot; in-building delivery robot FlashBot; cleaning robots PUDU CC1 and PUDU SH1; as well as disinfection robot Puductor 2.
Earlier, Pudu Robotics announced that it has achieved large-scale application of its independently-developed VSLAM (Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology solution through its latest delivery robot PuduBot 2. As an important breakthrough in the field of commercial robots, the VSLAM solution makes the product qualitatively better in terms of positioning accuracy, positioning reliability and scenario adaptability.
Zhang added that Pudu Robotics, as the only engineering and technology research center for indoor intelligent mobile robots in Guangdong Province, will continue to increase its investment in technology R&D to maintain its leadership in the product field. At the same time, Pudu Robotics is also optimistic about the cleaning robot market, and will focus on seeking new breakthroughs in cleaning robot products to further consolidate its advantages in the delivery robot segment.
