Shenzhen, China-based Zanecon Ltd(Chinese: 筑橙科技深圳有限公司) announced the completion of nearly RMB100 million Series A financing round.
Founded in 2018, Zanecon is a comprehensive solution provider that integrates construction robot product development, production, manufacturing, and intelligent construction technology services, which can ensure quality control through standardized work processes and achieve human substitution in high-risk operations. At present, Zanecon has independently developed a series of construction robot products, among which the intelligent exterior wall spraying robot has been industrialized and applied, which can significantly reduce the safety risks of high-altitude work and greatly improve the efficiency of construction work, and has been put into operation in many real estate companies across China.
The construction industry is a labor-intensive industry, and labor costs have a great impact on the cost of construction operations. With the increasing aging population, coupled with the prominent safety problems of working at heights in construction, according to the statistics of URA, in 2021, there were 734 production safety accidents in housing and urban construction, of which 383 accidents occurred due to falling from heights, accounting for 52% of the total number of accidents. As a result, the labor cost of the construction industry is further increased.
Based on the complex and diversified operation scenarios, Zanecon has deposited a lot of self-research technologies in the safety and stability of aerial platforms, environmental awareness, autonomous movement, and accurate positioning of the execution side. First of all, regarding platform stability control, Zanecon has developed a set of platform stability algorithms, through the algorithm for wind conditions to adjust the industrial control equipment to ensure the stability of the operating platform in the case of outdoor wind influence, to achieve smooth operation within the level four wind. Second, the environment-aware technology based on SLAM laser navigation can detect the 3D model of various shapes of the working wall and realize the high-precision control of building construction.
Taking the project that Zanecon will cooperate with Jinmao Real Estate in October 2021 as an example, about 50% of the overhead spraying work can be carried out robotically and unmanned to improve construction safety. Also, the part of spraying work done by robots is more than three times more efficient than manual work, and the construction cycle can be shortened by 30%. In this project, Zanecon has realized robot spraying operations for all kinds of exterior wall coatings.
He Zhiqiang, senior vice president of Lenovo Group and president of Lenovo Ventures Group, said: Zanecon team has a deep technical background and mature technology commercialization experience, and its robotic products are developed and designed for specific landing scenarios such as exterior wall painting, allowing the company to quickly form a "closed-loop" industrial chain. Legend Ventures is committed to promoting digital empowerment for industrial upgrading, and this further investment in Zanecon is intended to take the digitalization of the construction industry as an opportunity to explore more opportunities to accelerate the development of the smart industry together with Chiku Orange.
Zanecon's round of financing was led by XVC, followed by its old shareholder Lenovo Ventures(Chinese: 联想创投), with Index Capital(Chinese: 指数资本) acting as the exclusive financial advisor. A new round of financing for Zanecon has also been launched.