Unitree humanoid IPO draws frenzied demand in Shanghai
The Unitree humanoid IPO is being priced by investors as one of China’s hottest technology listings of the year, with Reuters reporting that the Hangzhou company is widely expected to surge when it begins trading in Shanghai next week.
Retail demand was more than 8,000 times oversubscribed, a record for Shanghai’s STAR Market for technology startups, according to Reuters. Outside China, private share platforms including EquityZen, UpMarket and Hiive are indicating that Unitree shares could nearly triple from the IPO price, while derivative trading on crypto venues including Hyperliquid and Gate points to a gain of almost four times.
Chinese media cited by Reuters reported that some IPO subscribers had been approached by scalpers offering 410 yuan (about $61) per share, a 170% premium to Unitree’s 150.8 yuan (about $22) offering price. The company raised 6.1 billion yuan (about $905 million) by selling 10% of its enlarged capital.
A rare profitable humanoid listing
Unitree is not the first Chinese humanoid robotics company to reach public markets. Reuters notes that UBTech and Dobot are already listed in Hong Kong, while Leju Robotics and Agitbot are preparing to go public. Unitree’s distinction is its scale. Reuters describes it as the world’s biggest humanoid robot maker by sales and the first general purpose robotics company to debut in mainland China.
The financial profile is also unusual for the sector: Unitree is already profitable. Jack Pearson, an investment principal at RoboStrategy, wrote in a report cited by Reuters that the company comes to market with “scale combined with profit.” For a humanoid company, where public claims often run well ahead of deployed factory work, that is a concrete point in its favor.
Investors are also responding to perceived state support. Founder Wang Xingxing had a front row seat at a summit with technology business leaders hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping early last year, Reuters reported. Unitree also has backing from Tencent, Alibaba and DeepSeek.
High expectations meet thin factory adoption
The scarcity dynamic is part of the current pricing. Jeff Ko, chief analyst at CoinEx, told Reuters that Hiive was pricing Unitree shares around $62, implying 176% upside from the IPO price. “Every market outside the regulated IPO process is attaching a substantial scarcity premium to the shares,” Ko said.
That market setup does not resolve the central robotics question. Unitree faces growing competition, has a limited number of mature factory floor applications, and Chinese humanoid robot firms may be blocked from selling in the U.S. market, according to Reuters. Those are material constraints for a company being valued less like a conventional hardware maker and more like a category leader in a market that is still proving where full body humanoids can earn their keep.
Reuters reported that Unitree’s listing date was expected to be announced later on Friday.
Source: reuters.com
