Unitree and HongShan launch Shanyu program to back early-stage embodied AI startups

Unitree Robotics and HSG have launched the Shanyu Venture Program to back early-stage embodied AI startups.

Unitree Robotics and HSG have jointly established the Shanyu Venture Program to discover and invest in early-stage startups in embodied intelligence, robotics applications, key upstream and downstream technologies, and other frontier hard-tech fields. The program pairs Unitree engineering capabilities with HSG investment capabilities, aiming to support founders from technology research and product application through financing and growth.

On project screening, the two sides describe their approach as understanding technology and industry, discovering early, deciding fast, and valuing people, with a focus on young entrepreneurs with insight who are willing to break convention. Unitree founder Wang Xingxing said the two sides hope to help young teams find product-market fit faster through the dual perspectives of engineer and investor.

What the program is not yet is a fund with published terms. The two sides have not disclosed fund size, contribution method, investment entity, or decision-making mechanism, so the announcement currently stands at framework level and the actual pace and scale of investment remain to be clarified.

The announcement extends an ecosystem push Unitree outlined days earlier, when it launched a program to recruit partner companies and teams across robot hardware and components, embodied AI algorithms, data and simulation platforms, and industry applications, aiming to incubate more than 200 partner companies over five years. In the public market, Unitree shares closed on October 28 at 695.9 yuan, up 8.74 percent on the day and more than 70 percent above an earlier low of 404.03 yuan, though the share move alone does not measure the program itself.