The tech company is now serving more than 15,000 hotel clients worldwide
Beijing Yunji Technology, a startup specializing in hotel service robots, has recently begun to receive the tutorial ahead of its planned initial public offering on China's Nasdaq-style STAR market. CITIC Securities was appointed as the counseling institution from February to May 2022.
If the IPO was given the greenlight, it would make Yunji Technology another service robot company to be listed on the STAR Market after Roborock (688169:SH) and Ninebot (689009:SH).
Founded in 2014, Yunji Technology mainly focuses on production and commercialization of intelligent service robots with big data tools. Its products have been mainly applied in hotels, buildings, government halls, shopping malls and other scenarios to provide services such as retail, delivery, guidance, interpretation and patrol.
It has gained wide recognition in the hospitality industry. According to an unverified source, its market penetration rate was estimated at 90% or more.
Its products now are deployed in more than 500 cities and 20 countries and regions. Marriott, Hilton, WeHotel, BTG Homeinns, Huazhu and a bunch of other leading hospitality brands have partnered with the startup.
Tianyacha, a business data and registration information platform, shows that Yunji Technology has completed 10 rounds of financing since its establishment. The initial investors included iFlytek, Tencent and Ctrip.com, now renamed Trip.com Group.
The Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020 accelerated the adoption of service robots due to the rise of a contactless economy and the device's ability to reduce hotel staff and operating costs.
It has also attracted venture funding from Lenovo, AlphaX Partners, CITIC Securities, Zhangjiang Group and other renowned institutions.
Lin Xiaojun, Executive President and CTO of Yunji, publicly revealed in 2021 that "the sales of hotel robots has expanded by 200%-300% every year since 2019."
Zhi Tao and Hu Quan are the controlling shareholders and actual controllers of Yunji Technology, holding 9.73% and 7.30% of its shares, respectively.
Service robots have experienced rapid growth in the past. According to data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) and the Chinese Institute of Electronics, the global service robot market grew at a CAGR of 21.8% from 2016 to 2020, and the market size was expected to reach USD 12.52 billion in 2021.
However, Wind, a data service provider, showed that the overall growth of the service robot industry has slowed in 2021.
Service robot production totaled 750,000 units in October 2021, down 1.90% year on year, which is the slowest pace of monthly growth since 2021. Although the cumulative growth remains high, a downward trend has emerged, said Wind.