UBTech, a Shenzhen-based AI and humanoid robotics company, has been aggressively hiring people as it passionately charges towards an initial public offering planned in 2019.
Chinese robotics billionaire James Zhuo, who founded UBTech, said that his bot startup has already achieved a state where it can boast of profitability. He, in fact, projected that he can sell as much as $288 million this year.
In May, UBTech has already raised $820 million in Series C investment - an achievement which rapidly positioned the company as the world's most valuable consumer robotics company. The funding, led by tech giant Tencent, granted UBTech a $5-billion worth of market valuation, making its Series C the single largest funding round ever for an artificial intelligence company.
The company's valuation has also placed Zhuo atop a net worth of approximately $1.6 billion, Bloomberg reported.
UBTech has also partnered with the big names in the technology sphere: Apple Inc. stores are selling its robot-building kits for kids, Amazon.com's voice assistant Alexa is integrated in UBTech's doll-sized robots as well as Tencent's voice assistant into its educational robots, and the startup was the one who made Walt Disney & Co.'s Stormtrooper bots.
With all these achievements at hand, Zhuo said the planned IPO in 2019 is intended to raise more funds for UBTech to make robots that are more capable of following commands from humans. He told Bloomberg he wants to do more robots that could dance, teach yoga, and do more human-like activities. Ultimately, Zhuo wants for UBTech robots to be present into every family's home, he said.
Gudrun Litzenberg, general secretary of the International Federation of Robotics, said the Asian region is particularly welcoming to robots.
Indeed, UBTech faces strong competitions from other Asian robotics companies. Among its big competitors are humanoid Nao of Japan's SoftBank, humanoid dog Aibo created by Sony Corp., and home bot Cloi from LG Electronics.
The massive market and technological potential of humanoid robots were recently highlighted when Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics Ltd. introduces Sophia to the world in 2016. Sophia is the first ever humanoid able of communicating logically with humans. She also has facial expressions and emotions that could have otherwise belonged exclusively to humans.
Since Sophia's introduction to the word, she had been speaking in public meetings which include an appearance at the United Nations assembly. She also modeled garments designed by British artist Sadie Clayton during the Shanghai Fashion Weekend. In 2017, she was granted citizenship by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
