Galbot Opens 3 Hong Kong Autonomous Retail Stores, Eyes More Expansion

Galbot Store, backed by Hong Kong Investment Corporation, officially began operations on September 1 with three fully autonomous retail outlets in Hong Kong, according to ETNet. Wang He, founder and chief technology officer of Beijing Galbot, said the company hopes to open more stores in high-footfall areas such as Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park, Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, with a target of 10 to several dozen outlets. He also said Galbot wants to develop pharmacy and other industrial-use scenarios in Hong Kong, and eventually make the city its first overseas launch market for household humanoid robots. Wang said Galbot has raised more than RMB 6 billion so far and has an estimated valuation of about $3 billion. He added that the company plans to continue raising funds in the primary and secondary markets, but gave no further details on a possible listing in Hong Kong. He also said Galbot expects its annual investment in Hong Kong to grow several-fold, or even 10-fold, and that the company is seeking partnerships across industries to commercialize its products. Galbot is also expanding into Japan, South Korea, the Middle East and Europe, while its industrial applications are already working with CATL, Siemens and Bosch.