Yushu (宇树) Is Going for an IPO, Backed by Half of the Hard Technology Investment Circle

IPO bid spotlights a broader robotics wave

Yushu (宇树) has filed to go public, and it is not just another IPO. It has been reported that the company's prospectus shows blistering growth — revenue jumped from RMB 121 million in 2022 to RMB 1.155 billion by September 2025, with 2025 full‑year revenue reportedly up 335% year‑on‑year and non‑GAAP net profit exceeding RMB 600 million. The filing makes bold claims — reportedly the company leads the world in humanoid robot shipments — and arrives while more than 20 Chinese embodied‑intelligence firms are openly preparing IPOs, turning Yushu into a bellwether for the sector.

Product shift, pricing strategy and margins

Yushu’s revenue mix has shifted quickly. It has been reported that humanoid robots accounted for RMB 595 million (51.5%) of sales in the first nine months of 2025, surpassing quadruped robots (RMB 488 million, 42.3%). Unit sales tell the same story: humanoid volumes climbed to 3,551 units in Jan–Sep 2025 (up from just five full‑size H1 units in 2023), while quadruped volumes rose to about 17,900 units. Average selling prices are falling — from RMB 593,400 in 2023 to RMB 167,600 in the 2025 Jan–Sep period — a deliberate move, Yushu says, to build scale and price competitiveness. Margin dynamics matter: humanoid gross margins have moderated from an eye‑watering 87.7% in 2023 to about 62.9%, but remain higher than quadrupeds (55.5%), showing the payoff of hardware scale even as unit prices decline.

Capital pedigree and geopolitical risks

What makes Yushu’s filing politically and commercially important is its shareholder register. It has been reported that heavyweights from China’s hard‑tech investment circle back the company: Sequoia China (红杉中国), Meituan (美团)‑linked entities, Shunwei Capital (顺为), Shenzhen Capital Group (深创投), BYD (比亚迪) and others — with Meituan‑related parties alone holding roughly 9.65% and Sequoia about 7.11%. Even Tencent (腾讯) holds a small direct stake. That mix — early VC, strategic industrial backers and internet platforms — signals broad industry consensus that humanoid robots are moving from lab demos to real commercial scenarios (logistics, automotive factories, service deployment). But there are big caveats. Yushu reports overseas sales have historically been a majority of revenue and still accounted for about 39% in Jan–Sep 2025; it also warns that US tariff shifts, export controls and supply‑chain import dependencies (roughly 20% of some materials routed via domestic agents) could dent overseas growth and margins. Can Yushu scale its “brain” — the embodied large‑model stack it is trialing with open‑sourced WMA and VLA efforts — before patient capital runs thin? Markets will now test whether the company’s hardware lead and investor endorsement can survive geopolitical and technological bottlenecks.