Kinetix AI

Spotlight

Shenzhen maker of the highly humanlike KAIBot humanoid and a 37-joint robot hand; raised over RMB 500M in Sep 2026

Startup · Prototype · Humanoid startup · Shenzhen, Guangdong, China · Founded 2025 · kinetixai.tech

• Founded 2025 · July 2025 per the company; some press says September 2025
• Customers · hand and headset buyers not named
• Funding · earlier round amounts not disclosed
• Valuation · not disclosed
• Headcount · not published

Profile

Kinetix AI builds humanoid robots that copy the human body as closely as possible, on the bet that a humanlike robot can learn directly from recordings of people at work. Its KAIBot humanoid, unveiled in April 2026, stands 1.73 m tall and has tactile skin over most of its body; the company also sells a 37-joint robot hand and a headset for recording first-person training data, which went on sale at WAIC in July 2026. CEO Yu Jie previously ran Huawei's autonomous mining-truck business, and co-founders Luo Ping and Zheng Cunyuan come from the University of Hong Kong and XPeng's humanoid team. In September 2026 it raised more than RMB 500M (about $74.5M) from investors including Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures China, its third round since being founded in July 2025.

Notes Reported Registered in July 2025 per the company and Vertex; some Chinese press gives September 2025, when R&D started. KAIBot's degrees of freedom are reported as 115 (Vertex, Huxiu) or 117 (Xinhua, Gasgoo), so the profile omits the figure. Some English outlets say Vertex led the round; Vertex says only that the round was 'backed by' it.

Leadership

• Yu Jie, Co-founder & CEO
• Luo Ping, Co-founder
• Zheng Cunyuan, Co-founder

Flagship robots

• KAIBot Humanoid
  Full-size humanoid built to human proportions (1.73 m, 70 kg), with tactile skin over most of its body; unveiled April 2026
• KAI Hand Component
  Human-sized dexterous hand with 37 degrees of freedom (20 active); on sale since WAIC 2026

Funding and valuation

Trademarks

No US filings since 2025 (last checked Oct 20, 2026). It may file under a Chinese legal name we don’t match yet.

Source: USPTO Trademark Search, matched on the company’s legal names. Rechecked on the 1st and 15th of each month. A filing shows intent to use a name in the US, not a launched product.

Competitors

Companies with overlapping products. Direct = same customers and same job; Adjacent = overlapping technology or market, different focus.

• Robot Era

  Adjacent competitor

  CNHumanoid startup

  Both build full-size humanoids and sell their own dexterous robot hands: Robot Era makes the STAR1 humanoid and XHAND dexterous hands, while Kinetix AI builds the highly humanlike KAIBot humanoid and sells a 37-joint robot hand.

  Sources (2)

  • Kinetix AI (company website)
  • Robot Era (company website)

• Sharpa

  Adjacent competitor

  SGHumanoid startup

  Both sell high-degree-of-freedom dexterous robot hands: Sharpa makes the SharpaWave tactile dexterous hand and robots that run a Dairy Queen store, while Kinetix AI builds the highly humanlike KAIBot humanoid and sells a 37-joint robot hand.

  Sources (2)

  • Kinetix AI (company website)
  • Sharpa (company website)

• EngineAI

  Adjacent competitor

  CNHumanoid startup

  Both are Shenzhen makers of full-size humanoids: EngineAI makes the T800 full-size industrial humanoid, while Kinetix AI builds the highly humanlike KAIBot humanoid and sells a 37-joint robot hand.

  Sources (2)

  • Kinetix AI (company website)
  • EngineAI (company website)

Recent news

• Sep 11, 2026 — Raises more than RMB 500M in an angel-plus series from investors including Vertex Ventures China, Fangguang Capital and Wanshi Capital Xinhua

Sources

• Kinetix AI raises US$75 million to build highly humanoid robots (Vertex Holdings) (Sep 23, 2026)
• 超维动力完成超5亿天使+轮系列融资 (Kinetix AI completes angel-plus series financing of over RMB 500M; Xinhua) (Sep 11, 2026)
• Former Huawei executive develops humanoid robot, secures 500 million yuan financing (Gasgoo) (Sep 11, 2026)
• 半年连融两轮，超维动力在WAIC一边打球一边卖“手” (Two rounds in six months: Kinetix AI plays table tennis and sells robot hands at WAIC; Huxiu) (Jul 18, 2026)
• Kinetix AI company website (Oct 20, 2026)

Confidence: medium.

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