China’s CATL, the world’s biggest battery maker, has extended its drive into humanoid robotics, leading a RMB 1.1 billion ($153 million) funding round for Beijing-based startup Galbot, making it a unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion, financial media outlet Caixin has reported. Other investors included the growth investment arm of China Development Bank, Beijing Robotics Industry Fund, and Granite Asia, the rebranded Asian arm of GGV Capital, according to an announcement published on Monday. Galbot said in a press release that CATL’s backing will create synergies for the deployment of its embodied artificial intelligence model in the industrial sector, without giving further details. The company earlier said its wheeled autonomous mobile robots, which possess two arms and have a wheel-foot mobility structure, have been doing physical tasks at the local factories of Mercedes-Benz and Geely’s EV affiliate Zeekr. [TechNode reporting, Caixin, in Chinese]
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