The industrial robot company QKM Technology recently completed its Series C financing, received nearly USD 17 Million. The former KUKA China CEO KONG Bing had joined QKM Technology to be the CEO, while SHI Jinbo was transferred from the original CEO position to chairman.
QKM Technology(李群自动化) is a Chinese high-tech enterprise specializing in R&D, production, sales and application of lightweight high-end industrial robots. It is dedicated to providing innovative robot products and services to manufacturers, system integrators and scientific research institutions.
The automation and intelligent transformation of light industry are where the domestic industrial robot companies could possibly compete with the "Four Big Families" (YASKAWA, FANUC, KUKA AG, ABB).
According to 36Kr(36氪), the industrial robot company QKM Technology(李群自动化) recently completed its Series C Financing, received nearly USD 17 million. The investors are Yue Ke Financial Group(粤科金融集团) and Ying Capital(天鹰资本). Yue Ke Financial Group is a province-owned investment group for tech companies and a professional venture capital institution in Guang Dong. The investment to QKM Technology is Yue Ke's crucial step to further develop the intelligent manufacturing industry in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
QKM Technology Chairman SHI Jinbo(石金博) said the freshly received funds will be mainly used for R&D and for the construction of the company's cooperative network both upstream and downstream: Including the establishment of East China R&D Center in Shanghai and joint projects with higher education institutions.
QKM Technology is a national high-tech enterprise specializing in the R&D, production, sales and application of lightweight high-end industrial robots. It provides lightweight robot products, services and integrated solutions for manufacturing companies, system integrators, scientific research institutions, and others, in order to improve and replace the traditional labor-intensive production processes. It is believed that QKM Technology is in the first tier of China's lightweight industrial robot industry. QKM Technology's revenue in 2017 was very close to USD 17 million, and it is expected to reach USD 21.7 million in 2018.
At present, QKM Technology has formed a PSS (product-service system) of "Industrial robots, platform for applications and integrated solutions".
QKM Technology developed the lightweight SCARA industrial robot: Apollo series, Delta series, and Athena series; six-axis robot Helios series, and Hercules series SCARA robot for large-scale workspace and medium and heavy-duty applications. Among them, Athena series SCARA robots had the biggest sale, mainly used in high-speed sorting, handling and assembling in the 3C industry (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) and renewable-energy industry.
According to SHI, the former KUKA China CEO KONG Bing(孔兵) had joined QKM Technology to be the CEO, while SHI Jinbo was transferred from the original CEO position to chairman.
KUKA is one of the "four big families" in the industrial robot industry, which was acquired by Media (美的) in January 2017. SHI said that the joining of KONG Bing also represents QKM Technology is planning to step into the first tier of world industrial robot market. KONG Bing will help QKM Technology to form its new marketing strategy; also, make use of his expertise and influence in the industry, to gather more industry specialists and resources, and to improve user experience and service of robot products.
Author: LI Jia. Write to LI Jia at LIJia@EqualOcean.com