Ant Group leads 500 million yuan funding round in humanoid robotics startup Zeroth

According to CNBC, Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group led a 500 million yuan ($73.58 million) funding round in humanoid robotics company Zeroth, with Monolith, Geely Capital, 37 Interactive Entertainment and Hua Capital also participating. Zeroth said the pre-Series A raise brings its total funding to 1 billion yuan, and the company claimed it has received orders for more than 30,000 units and that operating revenue in the first half of the year jumped 600% from a year earlier. Zeroth founder Guo Renjie said the company’s robots currently use chips from Horizon Robotics and that it plans to begin overseas sales in North America and Europe this fall after meeting local compliance requirements.