36Kr was informed that ZS Robotics (Chinese: 智世机器人), a provider of Four-way shuttle robots and new-generation intelligent warehousing solutions, has announced the completion of CNY tens of millions in angel round financing. The round of financing was funded exclusively by NewMargin Capital with Wave Capital acted as the financial consultant. Fund raised at this round will mainly be used for product research and development, market expansion, and team expansion.

Founded in July 2019, ZS Robotics is dedicated to the R&D of warehousing equipment, providing intelligent, efficient, and flexible three-dimensional warehousing solutions. The company’s core team has been engaged in the research and development of intelligent warehousing equipment since 2013 and participated in the release of the first intelligent four-way shuttle robot in China in 2015. Four-way shuttle robots (standard, ultra-thin, heavy load and customized model), high-precision hoister and intelligence software platforms covering management, control and digital twin are developed based on complete understanding of major pain points in the warehousing industry for a long time and warehousing application scenarios.

As one of the few companies in the four-way shuttle robot industry with full stack software and hardware development and delivery capabilities, ZS Robotics is committed to create products and solutions that truly improve warehouse operation efficiency and storage density, as well as four-way shuttle robots, its supporting products and software systems with higher standards, better stability, higher durability and better flexibility.

“There are many types of warehousing robots. For example, the well-known AGV mainly performs transportation and sorting activities. While four-way shuttle robots, focused by ZS Robotics is a complete solution covering from cargo storage and delivery.” Shaowei Liu, COO of ZS Robotics, told 36Kr: “Compared to previous transitional solutions in this industry, ZS Robotics is dedicated to create more reliable products, ensure the smooth delivery to end users through integrators and effectively empower application scenarios, thereby becoming a warehouse robot company worthy of the trust of clients and ecol-partners.”

At the beginning of its establishment, ZS Robotics independently researched and developed the body, lifter and supporting softwares of the new-generation four-way shuttle robots based on the disadvantages of traditional four-way robots and deep understanding of body hydraulic and mechanical structures.

According to Liu, With 10 years of experience in this industry, ZS Robotics always adhere to independent innovation. In 2020, the company released the first generation of four-way shuttle robots with mechanical jacks, and selected as the pilot project of that year. In 2022, ZS Robotics released the first ultra-thin four-way robot in China, reducing the height of the body to 120 mm, which is now the world’s thinnest Four-way shuttle robot.

Reportedly, ZS Robotics, with more than 30 inventions, utility model patents and software copyrights, has the fastest steering speed, the heaviest load and the thinnest body in the industry. It was accredited as National High-tech Enterprise (Year 2021), Shanghai High-tech Achievement Transformation Project and passed ISO9001, the internationally recognized Quality Management System (QMS) standard. In 2022, it was selected as a Shanghai Innovation Fund Project.

In recent years, the global intelligent warehousing market has been in the rapid growth of intelligent transformation. According to Allied Market Research data, the global warehouse automation market size is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.3% from 2023 to 2031, and will reach $57.6 billion in 2031; According to data from GGII, China’s intelligent warehouse market is expected to reach 225 billion yuan in 2025 and exceed 340 billion yuan in 2028.

In the highly intelligent ear of warehousing, especially in high-density storage environment, the advantages of a four-way shuttle robot are more prominent, which can meet the storage and picking demand for any locations in the intelligent three-dimensional warehouses. According to the data released by GGII, China’s four-way shuttle robot shipments reached 10,200 in 2022, it will exceeds 23,000 by 2025 with the average growth rate of over 30% in the next three years. According to industry forecasts, the market size of domestic four-way shuttle robots and supporting hardwares/softwares will soon reach tens of billions.

As its marketing promotion has been affected by the pandemic to some extent, ZS Robotics is still attractive to and be the choice for many clients, and 100% customer satisfaction has been achieved in terms of project delivery. This year, the launch of new products, the end of the pandemic and other favorable factors will drive the company’s orders increased by 7 to 10 times, and many of which come from overseas.

To response to the rapid growth of downstream market, according to Liu, ZS Robotics moved the company’s headquarters from Pudong to a new base in the Shanghai Maqiao Artificial Intelligence Innovation Pilot Zone in Minhang district, Shanghai, and built a 5,000-square-meter independent warehouses in the Lujia Town Intelligent Robot Industrial Park in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. Based on the complete supply chain of mechanical processing around Kunshan, it can effectively support and improve our production capacity to more than 1,000 units per year. Self-owned factory and well-managed supply chain has greatly improved the yield of ZS Robotics with customer reputation and satisfaction rate in an industry-leading position.

Meanwhile, ZS Robotics has formally launched the international expansion program this year, which aims to sell its products to East Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions, in addition to increased domestic customer base and orders. Furthermore, the company expects to complete CE certification in the third quarter of this year At that time, four-way shuttle robots developed by ZS Robotics will be sold directly through European agents.

Source: 36Kr