China's Embodied Intelligence Technology Foundation Secures Its First Post-Founding Strategic Funding Round

KAREL CAPEK has learned that EFORT's subsidiary—Openmind Smart Robotics Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Openmind")—has recently completed its first strategic funding round since its founding, with a financing amount of nearly RMB 100 million (approximately $14 million). The round was led by founding shareholder Advanced Manufacturing Industry Fund, with participation from notable industrial investors including XCMG Cloud Han Fund, AVIC Electric Fund, Yarui Capital, and Jiuchuang Investment.

The funds will primarily be used to propel Openmind into its commercial acceleration phase, providing sufficient resources for future product deployment, market promotion, and industrial ecosystem development. By bringing in strategic and industrial capital, Openmind will gain broader empowerment, accelerating the industrialization and deployment of its universal robot platform.

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01. Centering on Embodied Intelligence Core: Universal Technology Platform Tackles Industry Pain Points

As EFORT's core vehicle for entering the embodied intelligence track, Openmind was founded in 2024, established jointly by EFORT, the Advanced Manufacturing Industry Investment Fund, and Wuhu Science and Innovation Group. Its core mission is to build a universal technology platform for robot intelligence, activate integrators' development capabilities, and inject core technological momentum into the robotics industry.

Openmind boasts an industry-leading core team: the chairmanship is held by Dr. You Weibo, a seasoned expert in robotics and EFORT's Chairman. He previously led the development of China's first 165kg heavy-duty spot welding robot—an achievement inducted into the "China Enterprise Innovation Records." Under his leadership, EFORT has cumulatively delivered nearly 80,000 industrial robots, firmly positioning itself in the top tier of domestic manufacturers. The establishment of Openmind represents both EFORT's strategic move to develop a second growth curve and a critical practice in leveraging industrial experience to explore embodied intelligence deployment in industrial settings.

  

The company's Chief Scientist is Darwin G. Caldwell—a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), Vice President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), IEEE Fellow, and Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences. The team currently comprises nearly 200 members, many from top global universities, with Master's degree holders and above accounting for nearly 65% and PhD holders exceeding 25%. Additionally, the company has established joint laboratories with the University of Science and Technology of China and Tsinghua University, focusing on cutting-edge technology research spanning intelligent robot hardware platforms, core components, and AI big data perception systems.

Its self-developed universal intelligent robot platform is the key to breaking through industry development bottlenecks, integrating three core components to form a technical closed loop: the OpenmindOS operating system serves as the foundational support layer, providing a stable and flexible runtime environment; the Moodu IDE integrated development environment establishes an efficient development channel; and the Dayandata platform achieves deep data accumulation and intelligent application. Through standardized processes and rich algorithm and component libraries, this platform has successfully overcome the three core pain points of traditional robot development: high development barriers, high costs, and low efficiency.

 

Currently, this universal technology platform has been deeply deployed across multiple industrial core scenarios including welding, spraying, and palletizing, significantly improving production efficiency and process quality in real-world applications, earning widespread industry recognition through its concrete technological advantages. Previously, leveraging the innovative achievements of this technology platform, EFORT was awarded the "LeadeRobot 2025 Embodied Intelligence Application Benchmark Leadership Award," becoming a benchmark case in industrial embodied intelligence.

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02. Ecosystem Synergy: Multi-Party Empowerment Drives Platform Industrialization

The rapid iteration and deployment of Openmind's universal technology platform is inseparable from strong ecosystem resource support. Parent company EFORT, as a leading domestic intelligent robotics enterprise and industrial chain leader, provides it with rich industrial application scenarios and real-world operational data, ensuring the platform's technological R&D stays closely aligned with industry needs, accelerating the transition from laboratory to industrial deployment.

The strategic investments from the National Advanced Manufacturing Industry Investment Fund alongside notable industrial investors such as XCMG Cloud Han Fund and AVIC Electric Fund not only bring capital support, but also provide critical assistance in policy alignment and industrial resource integration. Leveraging EFORT's deep collaboration with Huawei Cloud, Openmind further integrates scenario advantages with AI algorithms and cloud computing capabilities, driving large-scale application of the universal technology platform across intelligent manufacturing sub-scenarios, and building an open, mutually beneficial industrial ecosystem.

 

Anhui Province Governor Wang Qingxian previously expressed his approval during an inspection visit of Openmind's approach to openly building a universal technology platform, encouraging enterprises to leverage their role as industry chain leaders and promote the deployment of "AI + Robotics" across more sectors.

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03. Track Heat Rising: Open Platform Model Aligns with Industry Trends

At the time of this funding round's completion, the embodied intelligence track is experiencing sustained growth. According to China Robot Network statistics, total financing in China's embodied intelligence sector in 2025 exceeded RMB 40 billion, with industrial manufacturing as the core application scenario becoming the key focus of capital deployment. The National Development and Reform Commission has clearly stated that China's embodied intelligence industry scale is growing at a rate exceeding 50%, and according to market research firms, it is projected to reach a market scale of RMB 100 billion by 2030.

Driven by both policy and market forces, Openmind's universal technology platform model precisely aligns with industry development trends. Unlike robot companies focused on single products, Openmind centers on an "open platform + ecosystem co-development" approach, lowering development barriers to attract more partners to participate in scenario innovation, forming a virtuous closed loop of "technology → data → iteration." This model not only aligns with the current industry consensus of "real-scenario closed-loop competition" in embodied intelligence, but also provides a new pathway for domestic robots to achieve industrial upgrading.

Regarding plans following this funding round, Openmind stated that it will continue to focus on iterating and optimizing its universal technology platform, deepen industrial scenario application deployment, further improve its industrial ecosystem layout, and drive the large-scale empowerment of embodied intelligence technology across more industries.

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