Excellent science fiction works can often predict the development of the real world, the classic science fiction animation “Ghost in the Shell” released in 1995 tells such a story: the birth of self-conscious AI, looking for the protagonist Suko, only to combine with Suko’s body to give birth to a new life form.

The combination of AI software and robot hardware seems to be the true portrayal of the current scientific and technological community.

3805H  After the rise of AI large model tuyere, Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus frequently appeared, and Figure AI, a humanoid robot start-up technology company, attracted science and technology leaders to compete for investment.

On February 29, Figure AI announced that it had recently completed a total of $675 million in financing, and participated in the technology industry’s dream day group, including Amazon founder Bezos, Nvidia, OpenAI and Microsoft and other giants. According to public information, after the completion of the financing, Figure AI’s valuation rose from $2 billion to $2.6 billion.

In China, the robot company Youbi, which was listed on the Hong Kong stock market in December last year, refreshed the financing record of global AI enterprises at that time with a valuation of $5 billion after investment as early as 2018. Before listing, the total raised 3805H  amount of about 4.79 billion yuan, behind the investors including Tencent, Qiming Venture Capital, CDH investment and other first-tier capital.

After experiencing the embarrassment of listing the break, the robot’s wind finally blew to the superior must choose side. On March 5, Uber rose 12 per cent in intraday trading, sending its shares to a record high of HK $119.

As the “first share of humanoid robots”, can you take off through the AI tuyere?

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Three years of $3.1 billion in losses. Where’s all the money going?

In fact, with the upsurge of AI, the domestic robot track was on fire last year. From the beginning of 2023 to October, A-share humanoid robot concept stocks rose 13.74% on average. Over the same period of the Shanghai Index, Haozhi electromechanical and other individual stocks have increased by more than 50%.

Youbi also landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 3805H  29, 2023, becoming the “first stock of humanoid robots” in China. But after the listing, the industry star did not usher in the expected popularity.

According to the prospectus, from 2020 to 2022 and in the first half of 2023, the revenue of Youbi Technology is 740 million, 817 million, 1,008 million and 261 million yuan respectively, and the corresponding net loss is 707 million, 918 million, 987 million and 548 million yuan respectively. The corresponding adjusted net losses were RMB643 million, RMB761 million, RMB782 million and RMB367 million, respectively.

Three and a half years of losses of 3.1 billion, the degree of financial constraints can be seen.

For the continuous loss, the company’s explanation is that in addition to the basic compensation expenses, in the fiscal year 2022, in order to facilitate the acquisition of a subsidiary, a one-time share-based payment of RMB 92 million affected the company’s earnings.

Aside from accidental factors, the profitability of the best choice is indeed not strong. In recent years, the company’s gross profit margin is also decreasing, from 2020 to 2022 and the first half of 2023, its gross profit margin is 44.7%, 31.3%, 29.2%, and 20.2%, respectively.

According to the prospectus, the main revenue sources of Youbi are four businesses: educational intelligent robots and intelligent robot solutions, logistics intelligent robots and intelligent robot solutions, customized robots and robot solutions for other industries, and consumer robots and their hardware equipment.