Underwater robotics maker Chasing Innovation raises nearly RMB 100 million in Series C+ round
Shenzhen-based Chasing Innovation has closed a Series C+ round of nearly RMB 100 million for underwater embodied AI and global expansion.
Shenzhen underwater robotics company Chasing Innovation has completed a Series C+ funding round of nearly RMB 100 million, with investors including Shenzhen Guangju Investment Holding Group and Zhejiang Yunchuang Qizhen, among other institutions. The company says the funds will go mainly to underwater embodied-AI core technology research, key product iteration, global market expansion and building out its professional application system, with the aim of scaling underwater intelligent equipment in real-world scenarios.
Chasing Innovation was founded in 2016 by Zhang Xun, Zhou Changgen and Yang Yang, all with Huawei backgrounds: Zhang was a senior expert in Huawei's core algorithm department, Zhou was head of quality operations for Huawei's Japan region, and Yang was a project manager for Huawei HiSilicon mobile phone chips. Its previous round was in March 2026, a Series C round of nearly RMB 100 million led by Liwan Capital.
The funding case rests less on cameras than on hands. The company's X100 platform, the company says, uses omnidirectional current-resistance technology that senses water flow and adjusts attitude automatically, while the X100 Pro is built for murky water and low light, integrating a murky-water camera into its main vision system alongside an underwater electronic gimbal, DVL and intelligent control for close inspection and work support in complex waters. Based on the X100 platform, the company says it has built what it describes as the industry's first underwater embodied-AI robot integrating two single-arm five-axis manipulators, supporting master-slave control, dual-arm coordination and end-effector swapping for grasping, sampling and professional operations in facility maintenance, engineering work and emergency response.
The consumer side shows the same stack in a smaller package. Its CHASING CanFish F2 AI fishing drone combines dual-frequency sonar, a retractable underwater camera, AI-assisted identification and autonomous cruising, so anglers can read sonar and live video together to understand fish and water conditions. The company also makes industrial-grade ROVs, consumer underwater drones, pool-cleaning robots and smart fishing equipment.
On scale, the company says its domestic industrial base totals more than 60,000 square meters, with its Ganzhou underwater intelligent robotics base designed for annual output of 250,000 water-based intelligent unmanned units, and that its products and business cover more than 130 countries and regions, with overseas business long above 85 per cent and more than 400 domestic and foreign intellectual-property rights. In applications, it says its robots have entered underwater inspection and maintenance work at a Venezuelan oil platform, water conservancy and hydropower facility inspection in China, and aquaculture net-cage inspection and facility maintenance.