Hong Kong's July rule change lets any applicant file confidentially, so more Chinese robot makers can start the listing process without exposing their finances until a hearing is passed.
Noetix Robotics, a Beijing humanoid robot maker backed by battery giant CATL, has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported on October 22, citing people familiar with the matter. The listing could raise several hundred million US dollars and take place as early as 2027, according to The Standard, which relayed the report.
The size and timing are not final, the Bloomberg sources said, as relayed by MoneyDJ and FX678. None of the outlets carried a comment from Noetix, and because the filing is confidential, no prospectus or financial figures are public.
Noetix would join a line of Chinese robot companies seeking Hong Kong listings this year. What sets it apart is its focus on cheap, small bipedal robots for consumers and education, a segment where unit prices are low and margins are thin.
A CATL-led round and a sub-RMB10,000 robot
Founder Jiang Zheyuan left a doctoral program at Tsinghua University in 2023 and set up the company that September, according to China Fund News. In March 2026, Noetix announced a Series B round of nearly RMB1 billion led by Chendao Capital, CATL’s industrial investment platform. CAS Investment Management, Beijing’s Jingguosheng fund and Unity Ventures also took part. China Fund News said the company had completed nine financing rounds and converted into a joint-stock company, a step that usually precedes a listing.
Caixin Global put the Series B at about US$145.9 million and noted that Noetix robots had appeared in China’s 2026 Spring Festival Gala on state television. Earlier, a pre-B round of nearly RMB300 million closed in October 2025. No independent outlet reported the company’s valuation. Its product range includes the N-series and E-series bipedal humanoids, bionic humanoid heads and a wheeled robot, and China Fund News reported that the company described its strategy as a dual track of bipedal and bionic robots.
Noetix sells its Bumi humanoid, a 94-centimeter robot for families and schools, for RMB9,998. When presales opened in October 2025, it sold more than 200 units within three hours, the South China Morning Post reported, citing the company; the Post is owned by Alibaba. Jiang told the paper that nearly all components were developed in-house and that margins were indeed quite low. The company also makes full-size bipedal robots: an N2 unit finished second in the world’s first humanoid robot half-marathon in Beijing in April 2025, China Daily reported.
Hong Kong’s rules now allow a quieter start
Until this year, confidential filing in Hong Kong was available only to companies seeking secondary listings, biotech companies and specialist technology firms. On July 24, 2026, HKEX extended the option to all new applicants, effective immediately. Under the change, a company can submit its application without publishing the draft prospectus until it passes a listing hearing.
The change delays disclosure without lowering it: a post-hearing information pack and a full prospectus must still be published before shares are sold, Shanghai Securities News explained. For Noetix, that means investors will not see its revenue, losses or order book until late in the process. Reports have not said which listing chapter it is applying under.
Hong Kong’s appetite for Chinese AI and robot listings has been strong, a trend Citi expects to continue, as EastFrontier reported on October 18. Investor mood has turned more cautious since, as Chinese technology shares fell into a bear market this week.
The hearing will show what a consumer humanoid earns
The first public look at Noetix’s finances will come with the post-hearing information pack. It will show how many Bumi and N-series robots the company has delivered, what share of revenue comes from consumers, schools and research buyers, and whether the low-price strategy has produced a gross profit. It will also confirm the size of CATL’s indirect stake through Chendao Capital, which remains the company’s best-known backing. In March, Noetix told China Fund News that competition would intensify around three abilities: integrating the supply chain, deploying robots in real settings and controlling costs. The filing will be the first public evidence of how it measures up on each.