Huang Xiaoming Enters Robot Rental Track

Robot Leasing Sector Secures First Billion-Yuan-Level Funding!

On March 18, the world’s first robot leasing platform, Qingtian Leasing, announced the completion of angel and pre-Series A funding rounds, totaling over one billion yuan. This marks the first billion-yuan-level financing in the robot leasing sector. After this round, Qingtian Leasing’s valuation reached 3 billion yuan.

The angel and pre-Series A funding were led by Ocean Motor, Muhua Tech Innovation, and Minzhu Electromechanical, with follow-on investments from Lehua Entertainment, Fuzhuo Investment, Mingjia Capital, Ruisiz Venture Capital, Tianji Investment, Jiaxing Nantou, and Zhixing Investment. Existing shareholder Dafen Industrial continued to subscribe oversubscribe. Mingjia Capital was founded by actor Huang Xiaoming, and Lehua Entertainment’s CEO is Du Hua. The funds will be primarily used to establish a nationwide standardized fulfillment service network, upgrade platform assets and dispatch systems, and leverage real-world scene data to empower the industry chain upstream and downstream.

In an interview with media including Securities Times, CEO Li Yiyan stated that the company’s next round of pre-Series A financing is underway, with the process more than halfway complete, and will be announced at the appropriate time. “Top-tier platforms and major manufacturers are in negotiations.”

Introducing Diversified Industry Capital to Broaden Ecosystem Boundaries

In this funding round, Qingtian Leasing introduced diversified industry capital to foster deep strategic collaboration with ecosystem partners in application scenarios, channel expansion, supply chain systems, and regional service networks.

“This round of financing is primarily industry-focused; nearly every investor can bring related industry cooperation, not just financial investment,” Li Yiyan said.

Specifically, Qingtian Leasing has built a distinctive capital matrix covering “hard technology + broad scenarios + pan-entertainment.” The involvement of hardware giants like Ocean Motor and Minzhu Electromechanical accelerates the validation of robot applications in core industrial environments and significantly improves asset circulation and maintenance efficiency. The continued investment from existing shareholder Dafen Industrial directly introduces a vast nationwide retail network and cultural, sports, and tourism exhibition scenarios, accelerating the commercialization and deployment of robots.

Ocean Motor, one of the lead investors, expressed confidence in Qingtian Leasing’s layout in robot leasing and service network construction. As the industry accelerates toward real-world applications and large-scale deployment, the platform model’s role in improving asset circulation and connecting industry resources is becoming more evident. “In the future, both parties will leverage their advantages along the industry chain to explore deeper collaboration in ecosystem building and resource integration, enabling embodied intelligence in manufacturing scenarios and high-quality real machine data collection.”

Notably, this round also introduced pan-entertainment cross-industry ecosystems, with Mingjia Capital, founded by actor Huang Xiaoming, partnering with domestic entertainment content company Lehua Entertainment. “The investments from these two organizations mean we will deeply integrate robots with entertainment,” Li Yiyan said.

Industry insiders believe that Qingtian Leasing’s standardized rental model aligns with the project-based, time-sensitive nature of entertainment equipment turnover. Huang Xiaoming, founder of Mingjia Capital, stated, “The fusion of technology and pan-entertainment will unleash enormous potential. In the future, we will leverage our resources to jointly explore innovative commercial scenarios with Qingtian Leasing.”

Looking ahead, Qingtian Leasing is expected to explore innovative rental services combining “robots + entertainment” in high-profile scenarios such as large commercial performances, concerts, and mega-IP events. Supported by well-known institutions like Muhua Tech Innovation and Jiaxing Nantou in industry-academia-research and regional deployment, the platform’s ecosystem will be comprehensively expanded.

Lehua Entertainment CEO Du Hua said, “Relying on our extensive artist roster and fan ecosystem, we will collaborate with Qingtian Leasing to explore ‘robots + entertainment’ innovative services, creating more disruptive technological entertainment experiences for the public.”

Building the Rental Infrastructure for the Robot Industry

In just three months, Qingtian Leasing has secured three rounds of financing, indicating that capital is increasingly focusing on application rather than just technology. In January, Qingtian Leasing announced its seed round, led by Hillhouse Capital, with participation from Fosun Chuangfu, Muhua Tech Innovation, Dafen Fund, and Zhangjiang Group’s embodied intelligence company.

“Qingtian Leasing is not just a simple equipment matching platform; we are building the ‘rental infrastructure’ for the entire robot industry,” Li Yiyan said. The platform will always serve as an open, inclusive, and neutral third-party base, addressing industry pain points such as upstream asset supply, downstream fulfillment, and scene deployment.

He further emphasized that by seamlessly connecting OEMs, service providers, and vast scene data, Qingtian Leasing is using real operational data as a flywheel to empower the entire ecosystem, helping the industry verify technology capabilities and market demand more efficiently.

Currently, the robot industry remains in a stage of parallel technological evolution and commercialization exploration. As applications extend into real-world scenarios, market attention to scene deployment, delivery, and service systems continues to grow. The company’s city partner strategy is also accelerating, with plans to expand service nodes nationwide, improve localized service networks, and further enhance robot delivery and operation in real scenarios.

To date, Qingtian Leasing’s platform has processed over 5,500 orders, with more than 3,000 robots available for dispatch, and over 20,000 city partner applications nationwide.

In December last year, Qingtian Leasing announced its “1234 Strategy”: by 2026, connect more than 10 robot OEMs, develop 200 top-tier service providers, gather 3,000 content and application creators, serve 400,000 leasing customers, and build a nationwide robot service network.