According to the World Robotics Report 2020 released by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), China has so far become the world’s largest and fastest-growing robotics market. Among all segments, service robots stand out as the most sought-after track. The overall market size has exceeded 28 billion RMB, representing a year-on-year growth of nearly 40%. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the tech industry inevitably slid into a downturn. For instance, sales and shipments of consumer products represented by smartphones and smart speakers plummeted by 30%. Nevertheless, the service robot sector delivered astonishing counter-cyclical growth. Driven by the demand for "contactless" operations, industry shipments surged dramatically. The sector attracted massive capital inflows starting in 2020, with annual financing volume jumping 344% year-on-year.

Such robust performance directly accelerated the Matthew Effect within the service robot industry. A review of the sector’s investment and financing landscape in the first half of 2021 reveals that leading service robot manufacturers had generally reached Series B or Series C funding rounds, with financing amounts mostly ranging from 300 million to 1 billion RMB. From the perspective of investors, large-scale capital in the service robot industry is gravitating toward top-tier investment institutions and leading tech companies. A typical example is Qiantuo Intelligence, which received strategic investment from Ele.me. Firms including SoftBank, IDG, Qiming Venture Partners and Hillhouse Capital also hold multiple investment projects in this space.

Back in 2020, the financing boom in service robots coincided with the COVID-19 outbreak. Many observers believed the sector’s momentum stemmed from temporary demand triggered by the public health crisis. Especially as manufacturers shifted their focus to pandemic frontlines, alongside scenarios such as medical delivery and disinfection, numerous investors suspected that the industry’s demand would only be a fleeting fad.

However, service robot manufacturers maintained strong growth over the subsequent year and a half, marked by diversified application scenarios, varied product portfolios and accelerated scaling. Fundamentally, this growth is underpinned by the irreversible trend of labor substitution, with the pandemic merely acting as a catalyst.