Chinese marine robotics company Seahi Robotics has closed a Series A funding round exceeding 1 billion yuan (about $140 million), one of the largest single rounds ever raised in the global marine-robotics sector. The financing will accelerate mass production of the company's surface and subsea robots and fund international expansion.
A record round for marine robotics
The Series A was led by Beijing Shanghe Momentum, with participation from Vertex Growth (a Temasek subsidiary), listed firm Dayang Electric, Changshi Capital and follow-on investment from existing backer GSR Ventures. Investors cited Seahi's nearly two decades of accumulated expertise in waterproofing and propulsion as a key differentiator at a moment when underwater robots are reaching a commercial inflection point.
Full-depth embodied robots
Seahi says it is the only robotics firm capable of operating across the full ocean column, from the waterline to depths of 10,000 meters. The company has developed six core systems in-house — propulsion, control, sensing, communication and navigation, sealing, and power deployment — and holds more than 300 intellectual-property registrations.
From hull cleaning to offshore energy
Its flagship Orca robot has performed maintenance on more than a thousand large vessels and secured deployments with shipping majors including China Merchants Shipping and COSCO. Seahi's platforms are also expanding into offshore wind, marine photovoltaics, subsea pipelines and deep-sea inspection, with a service network spanning major Chinese ports and markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The raise lands amid a record stretch of robotics financing. It follows orbital-infrastructure bets like Star Catcher's $65M Series A and heavy-equipment automation rounds such as Bedrock Robotics' $270M Series B, while deep-tech investors continue to back capital-intensive plays from Atom Computing to Machina Labs.
Reporting based on coverage from Seahi Robotics, Gasgoo and 36Kr.