Unitree raises $904 million as demand exceeds supply by 8,000 times
The Chinese humanoid robot manufacturer placed 40.4 million shares at 150.8 yuan on Shanghai's STAR Market, for an expected market capitalization of around 61 billion yuan. Individual investors submitted 9.8 million orders.
The figure that stands out is not the amount raised, it is the amount requested. Unitree Robotics, a Hangzhou-based company specializing in humanoid robots, placed 40.4 million shares — about 10% of its capital — at a price of 150.8 yuan each. The gross proceeds are close to 6.1 billion yuan, roughly 904 million dollars; the expected market capitalization is around 61 billion yuan. But total demand exceeded supply by more than 8,000 times, a record for Shanghai’s STAR Market, the Chinese exchange’s technology board.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Shares placed | 40.4 million (about 10% of capital) |
| Price per share | 150.8 yuan |
| Proceeds | approximately 6.1 billion yuan (approximately 904 million dollars) |
| Expected market capitalization | approximately 61 billion yuan |
| Individual subscription tranche | over 5,500 times (initial figures) |
| Total demand | over 8,000 times supply |
| Individual subscription orders | 9.8 million |
The 9.8 million orders submitted by individual investors is the figure that says the most about how this demand was built. The tranche reserved for retail investors was subscribed over 5,500 times according to initial figures; the overall multiplier, which includes institutional investors, reaches that figure of over 8,000. It is a demand structure in which the individual component is not a side element, but a substantial part of the pricing mechanism.
On the institutional side, the names are those of Chinese technology capitalism: subscribers include hedge funds linked to Liang Wenfeng, founder of DeepSeek, while the company’s backers include Tencent and Alibaba. The company was founded in 2016 by Wang Xingxing.
The admission process took just under three and a half months in its formal part: the Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted the listing application on March 20, the listing committee approved it on June 1, and registration was authorized on July 2.
The listing context explains part of the enthusiasm. Since the beginning of the year, the Star 50 technology index has risen more than 27%, against 0.8% for the CSI 300, the broad index of the largest Chinese stocks by market capitalization. The gap is about twenty-six percentage points between the technology segment and the broad stock market: when the difference is of this magnitude, a listing on that segment captures not only the valuation of the individual company, but a flow of capital seeking that type of exposure.
On exactly what this capital is valuing, analyst Lian Jye Su used a cautious formula: the listing will be “an indicator of how capital markets value this technology,” described as exciting but still nascent. The distinction is between the current value of a company that manufactures and sells machines and the value attributed to a sector that does not yet have a consolidated mass market.
Two verifiable data points will emerge in the coming weeks: the trading price in the first days after the debut compared to the 150.8 yuan placement price, and whether that price holds once the pressure from subscription orders has subsided. The 8,000-times multiplier measures demand at the time of the offering, not the willingness to buy the following day.
The listing comes on an exchange, Shanghai’s, that with this placement registers the historic record for oversubscription on its technology segment: this is the figure with which the operation enters market statistics, regardless of how trading will unfold.
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