Robot Era

Tsinghua spinout making the STAR1 humanoid and XHAND dexterous hands

Scaleup · Shipping · Humanoid startup · Beijing, Beijing, China · Founded 2023 · robotera.com

Unverified Reported 36Kr date approximate; total for 2026 is a sum of reported rounds. CEO from general knowledge.

Profile

Robot Era is a Tsinghua University-incubated Beijing company building the STAR1 humanoid, the Q5 wheeled robot and the XHAND dexterous hand. It raised three large rounds in 2026, including more than $200M in April, and passed a RMB 10B valuation.

Also listed as a component supplier.

People

• CJ
  Chen Jianyu

  Chief Executive Officer

Sources: Robot Era CEO Chen Jianyu (Economic Observer via Tencent News) · Robot Era's Chen Jianyu on general-purpose embodied robots (Sina Finance) · As of Oct 8, 2026. X handles are shown only when we could confirm they belong to the person.

Flagship robots

• STAR1 Humanoid
  Full-size humanoid
• L7 Humanoid
  Humanoid
• Q5 Wheeled humanoid
• XHAND Dexterous hand

Funding and valuation

Competitors

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

• Unitree Robotics

  Direct competitor

  CNHumanoid OEM

  Both sell humanoids and hands to Chinese buyers: Unitree Robotics sells low-cost humanoids and quadrupeds in volume, while Robot Era makes the STAR1 humanoid and XHAND dexterous hands.

  Sources (2)

  • Robot Era (company website)
  • Unitree Robotics (company website)

• mimic

  Direct competitor

  CHHumanoid startup

  Both sell dexterous robot hands as products: mimic develops dexterous robot hands and the AI to run them, while Robot Era makes the STAR1 humanoid and XHAND dexterous hands.

  Sources (2)

  • Robot Era (company website)
  • mimic (company website)

• Booster Robotics

  Adjacent competitor

  CNHumanoid startup

  Both sell humanoids to researchers and developers: Booster Robotics makes compact T1 and K1 humanoids for research, education and robot soccer, while Robot Era makes the STAR1 humanoid and XHAND dexterous hands.

  Sources (2)

  • Robot Era (company website)
  • Booster Robotics (company website)

Recent news

• Jul 15, 2026 — Another RMB 1B round; valuation above RMB 10B 36Kr
• Apr 27, 2026 — Robot Era raises more than $200M Caixin Global

Sources

• Robot Era raises more than $200 million (Caixin Global) (Apr 27, 2026)
• Star Era secures another RMB 1 billion, valuation exceeds RMB 10 billion (36Kr) (Jul 15, 2026)

Confidence: medium.

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