Before September 16, one thing must be clear: Unitree Technology formally listed on the A-share STAR Market on August 15, 2026, at an issue price of 150.80 yuan/share, corresponding to a market capitalization of roughly 60.99 billion yuan (based on 404.46 million post-issue shares), with a first-issue diluted P/E of 219x. This IPO is not a retrospective at sunset — it is the opening bell.
Institutional subscribers in the offline book-building abandoned zero shares; retail investors abandoned just 8,734 shares, or 0.02%. The initial online allotment rate was 0.0181% — a STAR Market record low — meaning only 1 in about 5,500 applicants won an allocation. Behind this: 9.7846 million valid online subscription accounts bidding for 536 million shares.
Five Milestones
- 2026-03-20: IPO application accepted.
- 2026-06-01: Passed listing review in 73 days — the fastest since the STAR Market pre-review mechanism was introduced.
- 2026-08-06: Offering announcement set the price at 150.80 yuan/share, with expected proceeds of 6.099 billion yuan (about 5.917 billion yuan net).
- 2026-08-10: Online and offline subscription; the 0.0181% allotment rate was set.
- 2026-08-15: Formal STAR Market listing (688836.SH).
- Zhiyuan (AgiBot) Robotics: 8,400 units, 44% global share, No. 1.
- Unitree: 5,900 units, 31% global share, No. 2.
- China accounted for 19,100 units, about 84.7% (some estimates up to 97%) of global humanoid shipments.
The strategic placement list reads like a coalition of state strategy, central SOEs, internet giants, and a friendly rival: DeepSeek (933,400 shares, 2.31% of issuance, 12-month lockup), PetroChina Kunlun Capital, China Southern Power Grid's industrial-finance arm, China Telecom's Tianyi Capital, and Tencent-affiliated Shanghai Qishan Investment (903,300 shares each), CITIC Securities employee holding plans, and the National Council for Social Security Fund. DeepSeek's placement is tied to cooperation on general AI R&D, high-performance general-purpose robots, and large model integration, including model architecture and compute cluster support.
The Company's Books Before Listing Day
Unitree's 2025 revenue grew 332%, but Q1 2026 growth slowed to 68.49%, with non-GAAP net profit down 52.55%. CEO Wang Xingxing attributed this at the August 7 roadshow to a much larger revenue base, cooling sector hype, intensified competition, rising R&D spend (robot hardware + embodied AI models + motion control), and concentrated brand promotion (the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala).
Industry context for H1 2026 shipments:
Valuation Anchor, Elimination Round, and Wealth Spillover
First, Unitree serves as a valuation anchor. By June 2026, leading unlisted embodied-AI companies were valued at 20–30 billion yuan; with Unitree now at 61 billion, pricing for their funding rounds and IPOs must reference it.
Second, the elimination round begins. With audited financials public and a 219x P/E, capital standards for robot IPOs shift from "technology stories" to revenue, gross margin, and customer validation. Galaxy Securities believes Unitree's listing will reset the IPO window for robotics companies.
Third, wealth spillover. Seed investor Yin Fangming's fund took 15% for 2 million yuan in 2016; at the IPO valuation that stake is worth about 1.685 billion yuan — an 842x return. Hangzhou Binjiang District real estate agents have been courting newly wealthy Unitree employees.
Governance Structure
Wang Xingxing directly holds 23.82% of shares and, via weighted voting rights and the Shanghai Yuyi equity incentive platform, controls 68.78% of voting power. Major shareholders include Shanghai Yuyi (10.94%, the incentive platform), Meituan-affiliated entities (Hanghai 7.61% plus GalaxyZ and Chengdu Longzhu, totaling 9.65%), Sequoia China (7.11% combined), Matrix Partners (5.45%), Shunwei Capital (4.42%), and CITIC Securities vehicles (4.49%).
Notably, DJI's fund in 2018 planned to invest 10.13 million yuan for roughly 17% (implying a ~60 million yuan post-money valuation) but exited via capital reduction in 2019 — a stake worth roughly 3.7 billion yuan at the IPO price had it been kept.
Five Things After the IPO
1. World Robot Conference, Beijing, Aug 19–23: Wang speaks on the main forum August 20 on the next decade of humanoid robotics; a 2026 industry report and a world-model expert committee will be launched. 2. Aug 14: Wang stated Unitree aims to "sell robots by the kilogram" — a formal budget-pricing strategy. 3. Aug 15: Wang recounted that around 2018 the company had only 200,000 yuan left and he paid salaries out of pocket. 4. Aug 13 announcement: Retail subscribers paid for 9.6983 million shares, abandoning 8,734 (0.02%); institutional subscribers abandoned zero; the underwriter covered 1.3171 million yuan. 5. Aug 10 onward: Gray-market scalpers illegally offered 410 yuan/share for allocations — a 170% premium — using advance payment and post-listing profit-sharing schemes, posing clear regulatory risk.
The Industry's Second Half
Unitree's listing marks the start of the capital-verification phase after embodied AI's first year of mass production. With Zhiyuan Robotics launching a Hong Kong listing, the two leaders form a twin-listing pattern: Unitree on the STAR Market (RMB funds, 61 billion yuan anchor) and Zhiyuan in Hong Kong (foreign capital). SAG data show industrial and commercial applications exceeded 70% of China's humanoid shipments in H1 2026, up from ~50% in 2025 — the shift "from showroom demos to job-site deployment" is the real battleground.
Sources
1. Economic Observer / Dutenews: "Who Abandoned Their Unitree Allocation?" (2026-08-14) 2. China News Service (ECNS): 8,734 allotted shares of Unitree IPO go unpaid (2026-08-14) 3. Shanghai Observer / Dutenews: Unitree STAR Market allotment rate 0.0181%, a record low (2026-08-14) 4. Beijing Daily / Caitongshe: 2026 World Robot Conference, Aug 19–23, Beijing (2026-08-14) 5. Robotics Lecture Hall: reports on illegal 410 yuan/share scalping (2026-08-14) 6. JRJ / Robotics Frontline: Wang Xingxing interviews (2026-08-14 / 2026-08-15) 7. Wind data: 2026 A-share IPO average first-day gain 279.22%; STAR Market average 463.23% 8. Securities Times: H1 2026 humanoid shipments of 19,100 units, 84.7% global share