Ant Group's Embodied AI Arm Robbyant Seeks $222M in First Funding Round

Robbyant, the artificial intelligence branch of Ant Group, has launched its inaugural external fundraising initiative, aiming to secure around 1.5 billion yuan (US$222 million). This marks the fourth segment of the fintech powerhouse to seek investment. As reported by the Chinese business publication LatePost, Robbyant plans to finalize a second funding round by year-end. Founded in late 2024, the division recently unveiled the next generation of its LingBot AI model series, featuring innovations like LingBot-Vision and LingBot-Depth 2.0 for spatial awareness, along with LingBot-VA 2.0 for predicting scene changes and robotic behaviors. These advancements are intended to enhance robotic systems' ability to interpret visual information and navigate their surroundings. This funding initiative highlights Ant Group's strategy to delve deeper into advanced AI technologies, especially in the realm of embodied AI, which merges AI with robotics.