Chinese programmable robotic toy maker Robson has raised RMB 100 million (USD 14.5 million) in its Series A funding round, with CMB International Capital as lead investor and iFlytek’s co-founder Hu Yu as co-investor.
The Shenzhen-based company, founded in 2008 and formerly known as Senpower, is behind the world’s first intelligent Transformer-like robot Robosen T9.
Robosen T9, a programmable robot that can walk, talk, dance or even transform into a truck like Optimus Prime, has received almost 300 orders on via its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and received almost USD 70,000 from backers, overshooting the USD 10,000 goal.
Robosen is eager to have a slice of the lucrative robot toy market, Robosen CMO Lan Xi told KrASIA. “Our core technology competitive edge is the transforming ability…T9 is the only robot toy that can transform automatically,” he said.
With a fresh round of venture capital, Robosen has a better chance to succeed. “We can spend more in the global recruitment and then improve our robotic system research and development,” Lan said. “Besides, it will be a great promotion for our brand.”
Robot toys are expected to dominate the entertainment robot market, reaching a market value of USD 2.5 billion in 2023, according to the Global Entertainment Robot Market Research Report.