By NUPIAO News
On August 19th, Unitree Robotics, hailed as the “first humanoid robot stock,” made its debut on the STAR Market. The stock opened at 1,100 yuan per share, surging by 629.44%, and pushing the company’s total market value to an eye-popping 444.9 billion yuan. While founder Wang Xingxing’s personal fortune skyrocketed past the 100-billion-yuan mark, a cohort of core technical staff who have been with the company for years also saw their own wealth leap, with several crossing the 100-million-yuan threshold.
According to Unitree’s official announcement, the company set up a two-tier employee wealth-sharing scheme. The first tier is the partnership platform, Shanghai Yuyi, established before the issuance for early-stage option incentives. The second tier comprises two special asset management plans for employees, created specifically for this IPO to participate in strategic placement.
Shanghai Yuyi held a 10.9414% stake in the company before the issuance. Many of the first-generation core R&D personnel indirectly hold equity through this platform, with most of these shares originating from options granted at extremely low exercise prices in the early days. Back in 2017, the company signed option agreements with several key employees, with an exercise price of just 1 yuan per registered capital.
Looking at the specifics, the two employee asset management plans break down like this: Plan No. 1 is aimed at a broader range of core staff, with a total of 159 employees participating and acquiring 1.3561 million shares, subject to a 12-month lock-up period. Plan No. 2 is much smaller in scale, with only 10 senior executives and key technical personnel involved, acquiring 444,300 shares but with a much longer lock-up period of 36 months. This plan is primarily reserved for the company’s highest-level technical leaders and management.
In the roster for Plan No. 2, aside from founder Wang Xingxing (born in 1990), three core R&D leaders stand out: Zhang Yangguang, Yang Zhiyu, and Wu Jinze. All three are early technical veterans of the company. Wang Xingxing holds a 28.30% share; Zhang Yangguang, Yang Zhiyu, and Wu Jinze each hold a 16.98% share; Chen Li and Shao Yecheng each have 5.66%; Yuan Wenzhi holds 3.77%; and Zhao Yongzheng, Chen Zhongkai, and Meng Lingbo each hold 1.89%.
Furthermore, Yang Zhiyu (Director of R&D Technical Structure), Chen Li (Sales Director), and Zhang Yangguang (Director of R&D Technical Software) also indirectly hold company shares through Shanghai Yuyi, with stakes of 0.49%, 0.26%, and 0.15% respectively. Based on a market value of 350 billion yuan, the holdings of these three post-90s individuals would be valued at 1.715 billion yuan, 910 million yuan, and 525 million yuan, respectively.
The announcement also notes that Wang Xingxing’s partnership shares in the Shanghai Yuyi platform will be entirely used for future employee equity incentives. They will not be personally enjoyed by him, nor will they dilute the equity of external shareholders.
Beyond the internal core team, a host of external investment institutions have also reaped substantial paper gains from Unitree’s listing. Meituan’s ecosystem, as the largest external institutional shareholder, holds approximately 35.1236 million shares through three entities – Hanhai Information, Galaxy Z, and Chengdu Longzhu – resulting in paper gains exceeding 33.3 billion yuan. Ningbo Hongshan and Xiamen Yaheng together hold 25.8995 million shares, valued at 3.906 billion yuan based on the issuance price. Matrix Partners China holds a total of 19.8491 million shares, with a market value of 2.993 billion yuan.
The strategic placement list also offers plenty of intrigue. Liang Wenfeng’s DeepSeek, High-Flyer Quant, and Nine Chapter Asset Management collectively secured approximately 1.1916 million shares through strategic placement and offline subscriptions, with paper gains exceeding 1.1 billion yuan. Astrend IV, an affiliate of Shunwei Capital founded by Xiaomi’s Lei Jun, holds 16.106 million shares, with paper gains surpassing 15.2 billion yuan.
Additionally, Tencent Technology directly holds 2.1791 million shares in Unitree, valued at 329 million yuan. Alibaba’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Hangzhou Haoyue, holds 1.6343 million shares, worth 246 million yuan. Ant Group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, holds 817,236 shares, valued at 123 million yuan.
However, all these strategic placement shares come with lock-up periods ranging from 12 to 36 months, meaning these gains cannot be realized in the short term.
Behind the wealth frenzy, the humanoid robot industry is far from a worry-free zone. According to the unaudited financial data for the first half of 2026 disclosed in the IPO prospectus, while the company is profitable, its non-GAAP net profit declined by 19.34% year-on-year, with R&D and sales expenses continuing to climb. In terms of revenue structure, it still relies heavily on procurement from the scientific research and education sector. The large-scale commercial rollout in households and industry remains uncertain. At the same time, Unitree must also confront intense competition from Tesla’s Optimus and a host of domestic rivals.
For these post-90s technical staff who became millionaires overnight, whether their paper wealth can truly be cashed in ultimately depends on Unitree’s ability to convert its technological advantages into consistently growing commercial revenue. For the robotics industry to take over high-intensity, high-risk physical labor, overcoming technical hurdles is just the first step; large-scale industrial deployment is the real test that lies ahead.
