Daimon Robotics has secured a strategic financing round worth several hundred million yuan, led by Ant Group, with existing shareholders also increasing their investments in the embodied artificial intelligence company. The financing provides fresh capital for Daimon as it develops technologies designed to give robots more advanced tactile perception and dexterous manipulation capabilities for real-world environments. The deal also strengthens Ant Group’s involvement in China’s rapidly expanding robotics sector, where technology companies and investors are increasingly backing embodied AI platforms and enabling technologies.
Daimon Extends Its Funding Momentum
The new investment follows Daimon’s 100 million yuan Series A financing completed in June 2026, which was backed by Inovance’s industrial investment arm and China Telecom, extending a rapid period of capital raising for the company. Previous investors have also included investment entities associated with China Mobile, Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, and China Merchants Venture Capital, giving Daimon support from several major technology and industrial groups. The latest funding is expected to support continued product development, manufacturing expansion, research and development, and the commercialization of the startup’s robotic sensing and manipulation technologies.
Building Technology for Physical AI
Founded from research originating at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Daimon began formal operations in 2023 and is led by founder and CEO Duan Jianghua, whose team focuses on technologies that allow intelligent machines to better understand physical contact. The company is headquartered in Shenzhen while maintaining research and development activities in Hong Kong, positioning it within the Greater Bay Area’s growing robotics and artificial intelligence ecosystem. Its core strategy centers on combining tactile sensing, robotic hardware, multimodal data, and artificial intelligence models to improve how machines interact with objects and environments.
Expanding Tactile Perception and Manipulation
Daimon develops visual-tactile sensors, robotic grippers, teleoperation systems, data-collection infrastructure, multimodal datasets, and AI models designed to connect physical perception with robotic action, rather than focusing exclusively on building complete humanoid robots. Its technologies aim to give robots information about force, contact, texture, and object interaction that cannot always be captured through cameras and visual perception systems alone. These capabilities can be particularly important for manufacturing, logistics, assembly, and other environments where robots need to grasp, move, or manipulate objects with precision and reliability.
Ant Group Deepens Robotics Exposure
For Ant Group, the financing represents another step into humanoid robotics and embodied intelligence after the technology company established Shanghai Ant Lingbo Technology in late 2024 to explore humanoid robotic systems and related applications. Investing in Daimon provides Ant with exposure to enabling technologies including tactile sensors, manipulation systems, physical interaction data, and AI models that could contribute to increasingly capable robotic platforms. The transaction comes as large technology companies, industrial manufacturers, and venture investors across China compete to establish positions in embodied AI, an area viewed as a potential major application of next-generation artificial intelligence.
Daimon’s latest financing strengthens its position as it seeks to commercialize technologies that bridge artificial intelligence with physical robotic interaction, while giving the company additional resources to expand products, production capacity, and deployment. The backing from Ant Group and other investors also reflects growing interest in companies developing the foundational sensing, data, and manipulation infrastructure required for advanced robots to operate effectively outside controlled laboratory settings. Daimon’s next challenge will be translating its expanding technology portfolio and financial support into scalable commercial deployments across manufacturing, logistics, and other industries where intelligent robotic systems could deliver practical value.