Alibaba Bets $140M on Humanoid Robots – X Square’s $280M Rise in Embodied AI
Shenzhen-based startup X Square Robot has just landed a massive Series A+ funding round, pulling in between $100 million and $140 million. The round was led by Alibaba Cloud, marking their first direct investment in embodied intelligence, alongside big-name backers like Meituan, Legend Capital, HongShan Capital, and CAS Investment. Depending on who you ask, the deal is either $100 million or $140 million—but let’s be honest, both numbers are impressive.
Founded in late 2023 by Wang Qian, who holds a robotics PhD from USC and once ran a U.S. quantitative fund, X Square has quickly become one of China’s most closely watched robotics companies. In less than two years, it has raised nearly $280 million, showing strong investor confidence in humanoid robots.
The company is pursuing a dual strategy: advancing both software and hardware. On the software side, they’ve open-sourced WALL-OSS-4.2B, a robotics foundation model designed to speed up development in embodied AI. On the hardware side, their headline product is the Qunta X2, a wheeled humanoid robot with dual arms, pressure-sensitive hands, and even a mop attachment for 360-degree cleaning.
Already, the robots are being piloted in schools, hotels, and elder care facilities, and the company is eyeing expansion into Japan and Singapore.
And that’s your robot news update for today!
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