Sharpa, a crypto robot, discloses its maiden financing round of over $4.5 billion at a $22 billion valuation.

Beating AI News Brief: General robotics firm Sharpa has raised over RMB 4.5 billion in total funding, with a post-money valuation of RMB 22 billion, marking the company’s first publicly disclosed financing round. Investors include Alibaba, Meituan, Tencent, JD.com, as well as Sequoia China, Qiming Venture Partners, and Meituan Dragon Ball. Sharpa was co-founded at the end of 2024 by Hesai Technology CEO Li Yifan, CTO Xiang Shaoqing, and Chief Scientist Sun Kai, focusing on dexterous hands, general-purpose robots, and related AI models. The company is currently prioritizing real commercial scenarios, with no immediate plans to enter the home market. It has set three criteria for "truly functional robots": no need to modify the environment for the robot, full autonomy in task execution, and tasks that are complex enough and have practical value. The first use case is DQ stores: the robot will directly use existing staff equipment, complete around 55 operational steps, and independently make a Blizzard ice cream. The first scenario underwent less than five months of integrated training, and the robot’s current speed is roughly half that of a human staff member. Li Yifan believes that if a humanoid robot with over 70 degrees of freedom only performs tasks that a simple robotic arm can handle, the business case will never be viable. He also noted that in Physical AI, it will be difficult for an OpenAI-style company that only develops the "brain" (software and models) to emerge, and the ultimate winner will resemble Apple, requiring mastery of hardware, data, models, and the entire system. Sharpa aims to fully penetrate scenarios such as catering, hospitality, and retail before attempting to enter the home market starting in 2028.