Tag: Xiaomi

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India says Oppo’s local unit evaded $550 million in import tax

India’s Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence, part of the country’s finance ministry, said on Wednesday phone-maker Oppo’s India unit evaded customs duty of $550 million, following similar probes into local units of other Chinese giants Xiaomi and Vivo that prompted Beijing to issue a warning earlier this month.

The finance ministry said it has found evidence that Oppo India “wilfully” wrongly declared description of certain items it imported in the nation, which allowed it to improperly avail duty exemption benefits of $374.3 million.

The ministry said it searched the offices of Oppo India and members of its management team who “accepted the submission of wrongful description before the Customs Authorities at the time of import.”

Oppo India also deals for other brands including OnePlus and Realme in the country, the ministry said. If the market share of all these units are to be combined, Oppo India is the largest smartphone vendor in the country.

It did not immediately responded to a request for comment.

“During the course of investigation, searches were conducted by DRI at the office premises of Oppo India and residences of its key management employees, which led to the recovery of incriminating evidence indicating wilful mis-declaration in the description of certain items imported by Oppo India for use in the manufacture of mobile phones,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

Additionally, Oppo India also made royalty and licence fee payments of over $176 million to other companies, including some in China, and did not disclose those transactions in the value of goods imported by them, violating the country’s Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962, the ministry added.

Oppo India has “voluntarily deposited” about $56.5 million as partial differential customs duty, the ministry added.

Wednesday’s announcement follows the Enforcement Directorate, India’s anti-money laundering agency, raiding dozens of phone-maker Vivo’s operations and production sites across multiple states in the country.

The Enforcement Directorate said last week that a firm associated with Vivo used forged documentation at the time of incorporation in India. The agency seized 119 bank accounts with $58.7 million linked with Vivo India, it added.

The ED’s move prompted China’s embassy in India to criticize the Indian authorities last week. The embassy said such “frequent investigations” into local units of Chinese firms “impede the improvement of [the] business environment” in India and “chills the confidence and willingness” of other foreign nation’s businesses to invest and operate in the South Asian market.

The embassy said China always asks its firms to follow laws and regulations overseas and “wishes” that the Indian side provides a “fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment” to Chinese firms.

Tension between the two nuclear-armed neighboring nations escalated in 2020 after a skirmish at the border. India has since introduced several restrictions on Chinese firms (without ever naming China in its orders.)

In the past two years, New Delhi has banned hundreds of Chinese apps including TikTok, UC Browser and PUBG Mobile, citing national security concerns. India also amended its foreign direct investment policy in 2020 to require all neighboring nations with which it shares a boundary to seek approval from New Delhi for their future deals in the country. Previously, only Pakistan and Bangladesh were subjected to this requirement.

The ED also conducted an investigation into Xiaomi, another Chinese firm. The ED seized $725 million from Xiaomi India, accusing the company of violating the country’s foreign exchange laws. Executives of Xiaomi, which has refuted the charges and has legally challenged the ruling, faced threats of “physical violence” during their investigation, Reuters reported earlier.

Both Vivo and Xiaomi have denied any wrongdoing.

India Cellular and Electronics Association, a lobby group that represents several tech giants including Apple and Amazon, in May urged New Delhi to intervene and alleged ED of lacking understanding of just how royalty payments worked in the tech industry.

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China says India’s frequent investigations into Chinese firms have chilling impact on business confidence

“Frequent” investigations into local units of Chinese firms by Indian authorities “impedes the improvement of business environment” in India and “chills the confidence and willingness” of other foreign nation’s businesses to invest and operate in the South Asian market, China’s embassy in India said in a statement, following raids into Vivo offices earlier this week.

“The frequent investigations by the Indian side into Chinese enterprises not only disrupt the enterprises’ normal business activities and damage the goodwill of the enterprises, but also impedes the improvement of business environment in India and chills the confidence and willingness of market entities from other countries, including Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in India,” Wang Xiaojian, Spokesperson of Chinese Embassy in India Counsellor, said in a written statement.

The Enforcement Directorate, India’s anti-money laundering agency, earlier this week raided dozens of phone-maker Vivo’s offices across multiple states. In a statement to TechCrunch, Vivo said it was cooperating with Indian authorities.

The incident follows a similar investigation into Xiaomi, the top smartphone vendor in India. The ED seized $725 million from Xiaomi India, accusing the company had violated the country’s foreign exchange laws. Executives of Xiaomi, which has refuted the charges and has legally challenged the ruling, faced “physical violence” threats during their investigation, Reuters reported earlier.

India Cellular and Electronics Association, a lobby group that represents several tech giants including Apple and Amazon, in May urged New Delhi to intervene and alleged that ED lacked understanding of just how royalty payments worked in the tech industry. (The Indian Enforcement Directorate said earlier that Xiaomi had remitted $725 million to three foreign-based entities “in the guise of royalty” payments.)

Xiaojian said Wednesday evening that the world’s largest population always asks Chinese firms to follow laws and regulations overseas and “wishes” that the Indian side provides a “fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment” to Chinese firms.

“The essence of China-India economic and trade cooperation is for mutual benefit and win-win results. The bilateral trade volume between China and India strikes a historical record of over 100 billion USD in 2021, which reflects the huge potential and broad prospect of economic and trade cooperation between our two countries. China wishes the Indian side to investigate and enforce the law in compliance with laws and regulations, and effectively provide an fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in India,” he added.

Tension between the two nuclear-armed neighboring nations escalated in 2020 after a skirmish at the border. India has since introduced several restrictions on Chinese firms (without ever naming China in its orders.)

In the past two years, New Delhi has banned hundreds of Chinese apps including TikTok, UC Browser and PUBG Mobile, citing national security concerns. India also amended its foreign direct investment policy in 2020 to require all neighboring nations with which it shares a boundary to seek approval from New Delhi for their future deals in the country. Previously, only Pakistan and Bangladesh were subjected to this requirement.

The investment rule has significantly curtailed Chinese investors’ ability to back Indian businesses and startups. Prior to the amendment, Tencent and Alibaba were among the most prolific backers of Indian startups.

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India raids Vivo offices over money laundering allegations

India’s anti-money laundering agency raided more than 40 offices of Chinese phone-maker Vivo across the country on Tuesday over allegations of money laundering, the latest in a series of developments illustrating the growing murky relationship between New Delhi and firms of China origin.

The Enforcement Directorate searched Vivo’s offices across the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, according to local media reports.

In a statement, a Vivo spokesperson told TechCrunch that the firm was cooperating with the authorities.

“Vivo India is cooperating with the authorities to provide them with all required information. As a responsible corporate, we are committed to being fully compliant with laws in India,” the spokesperson said, without elaborating details of ED’s proceedings.

The ED has been seeking to investigate whether Vivo had any “significant irregularities in ownership and financial reporting” for several months, Bloomberg reported in April.

In the same month, the ED seized $725 million from Xiaomi India alleging that the company had illegally remitted money in name of royalties upon “instructions from instructions of their Chinese parent group entities.”

Xiaomi refuted these charges and separately said its executive faced “physical violence” threats during the investigation, Reuters reported earlier. The company also challenged the enforcement agency’s ruling in Karnataka High Court, and the decision is currently pending.

India Cellular and Electronics Association, a lobby group that represents several tech giants including Apple, Google and Amazon, in May urged New Delhi to intervene and alleged that ED lacked understanding of how royalty payments in tech business worked.

The raids follow a geopolitical tension brewing between the two nuclear-armed, neighboring nations.

India banned over 200 Chinese apps including TikTok and PUBG Mobile in mid-2020 over national security concerns shortly after a skirmish at the border between the armed forces of the two countries.

The South Asian market, which has officially never identified China in its block orders, has so far avoided any severe restrictions on Chinese smartphone makers.

Chinese smartphone makers continue to dominate the Indian market. Four of the top five manufacturers in India were Chinese in the quarter that ended in March; Xiaomi maintains the tentpole position whereas Vivo ranks fourth on the chart, according to research firm Counterpoint.

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Founder of auto giant Geely buys Meizu as smartphone demand weakens

Remember Meizu, the once-promising competitor to Xiaomi? The Alibaba-backed Chinese smartphone maker is making a comeback — in a way — as it gets acquired by the founder of Geely, China’s largest private automaker and Volvo’s parent comapny.

China’s smartphone industry is notoriously competitive. Founded in 2003, Meizu has been making affordable, trendy Android-based smartphones that allowed it to gain brief moments of prominence at home and abroad. As of late, the phone maker’s market share in China has been marginal — 1% in Q4 2019, according to market research firm Counterpoint.

But the firm is now taking another shot as Xingji Technology, a smartphone company launched by Geely’s founder and chairman Eric Li last September, acquired a controlling stake of 79.09% from it.

Meizu will continue to operae as an “independent brand” following the strategic investment. Its founder Huang Zhang, also known as Jack Wong, will be involved as the brand’s “product strategy advisor.”

The tie-up joins a raft of phone and auto makers working closer together and betting on a future where in-car control and handset operating systems are more integrated. Last March, Xiaomi created a subsidiary to make electric vehicles and pledged to spend $10 billion on the new business in the upcoming years.

In the highly homogenous consumer device market, Meizu and Xingji aim to build “a multi-device, scenario-agnostic, and immersive” digital experience. Xingji was founded with a focus on premium smartphones, mixed reality and wearables.

It’s hard to be too excite about another new phone brand at a time global economy is slowing down. Smartphone shipment worldwide is expected to slump 3.5% this year, according to market researcher IDC. And there’s ample competition. The upcoming Nothing phone, spearheaded by OnePlus’s co-founder Carl Pei, vows to be different with refreshing designs and affordability, but its success will hinge on actual execution.

Xingji plans to release its first phone model by 2023 and sell 3 million units in the first year, Reuters reported earlier. Taking on premium-phone leaders Apple and Huawei, as well as aspiring players like Oppo, will be no small feat.

Xiaomi joins the ranks of Chinese tech giants to work on EVs

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Tesla veterans’ Industrial Next picks up $12M to automate EV production

Elon Musk is unabashed about his obsession with manufacturing. Over the years, Tesla has gradually gained recognition in the manufacturing world through improving its production quality. Now two Tesla veterans want to share their smart factory know-how to other automakers through a nascent startup.

Industrial Next, founded by Allen Pan, who was Tesla’s autonomous factory lead at Fremont, and Lukas Pankau, who was a lead electrical architect behind Model X, Y and 3, aims to bring the latest production technologies to electric vehicle suppliers around the world, a vision that has helped it win investor support recently.

The startup just raised $12 million in a pre-Series A round led by Lenovo Capital, the venture capital vehicle of Chinese computer giant Lenovo, which owns IBM’s PC business. Xiaomi’s strategic investment arm and AlphaX Partners also participated in the financing round.

Notably, Industrial Next have been through both Y Combinator in the U.S. and MiraclePlus, the legacy of YC China, a move that has facilitated its global expansion.

In 2019, YC announced the closure of its China unit just a year after the incubator entered the country. Lu Qi, the renowned AI scientist hired to lead YC China, subsequently set up MiraclePlus, which was designed to operate through an independent fund and operational team but would still enjoy Lu’s ties with YC.

Industrial Next’s double-dipping appears to be the result of that arrangement. The startup joined YC after MiraclePlus suggested that it could “use YC as a launching pad” in the U.S. to broaden its customer base, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Some manufacturers have already shown interest in Industrial Next. The startup sells a mix of modular equipment, customized software, and follow-on service, which means clients can procure for one production unit or the entire factory.

More specifically, it’s equipping automakers with smart factory capabilities, such as sensing devices that run on edge computing, algorithms that can detect defects during production rather than after the fact, and a data framework that can timely inform designers of the production progress.

These elements altogether are supposed to give suppliers more agility at a time when heightened competition between EV upstarts are forcing factories to significantly shorten production cycles, adapt to changing demand, and scale production capacity.

The startup clearly looks to Tesla as a benchmark as it said to investors that it aimed to “improve on manufacturing technologies tested and proven by Tesla and transform the industry,” according to its pitch script on MiraclePlus’s demo day seen by TechCrunch. It has been in discussion with EV upstarts Rivian and Nio, as well as smart hardware OEM Huaqin and Wisetech for procurement, the pitch mentioned.

SoftBank leads $15M round for China’s industrial robot maker Youibot

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Battery giant Anker backs programmable robot maker Keyi

The promise of STEAM robots, which are billed to increase children’s interest in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), has been around for years. The market is teeming with products from hardcore robotics scientists and their copycats. Many have faded away, but investor interest hasn’t died down, at least for one company coming from China.

Keyi Technology, which is known for its modular, cycloptic robot Clicbot, just raised “tens of millions of dollars” in a new funding round. Powered by Blockly, Google’s visual drag-and-drop programming language, Clicbot claims it can be designed in thousands of different ways.

The lead investor of the funding round was Anker, the China- and US-based battery pack and charging giant with a current market cap of 27 billion yuan ($4 billion). Other investors included Xiaomi, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun’s Shunwei Capital, and BlueRun Ventures China, the Silicon Valley early-stage investor that entered China in the 2000s.

When asked about details of its investment portfolio, Anker declined to comment. It also didn’t answer a question about potential collaborations between Keyi and itself.

Keyi’s new funding comes at a time when inflation in the U.S. and Europe is hitting consumers’ appetite for tech devices and other goods. But Keyi, which derives 60% of its revenues from outside of China, sees “significant growth” in the global smart toys market thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted millions of children to learn from home. And like its peers, Keyi is enjoying a growing demand for its educational robots.

Image Credits: Keyi’s programmable robot Clicbot

The company shipped over 10,000 parcels of Clicbot last year, growing over 300% year-over-year, though it hasn’t turned profitable, its marketing chief Chen Peng tells TechCrunch. It’s expected to launch a new product in September.

The pandemic also brings challenges to Keyi as covid lockdowns and a rebound in global trade put the global shipping system under stress. “Inflation and COVID-19 have definitely had some impact on our shipping rates and there is no doubt that we are facing the risk of a decrease in profit margin — especially because we are an international e-commerce company,” Peng tells TechCrunch.

In the meantime, export-oriented Chinese consumer startups like Keyi are coping with the consequences of Apple’s privacy policy change. “Re-target marketing becomes limited as now we are unable to obtain data from iOS users” and “the attribution analysis model becomes ineffective as well,” Peng admits. The company’s strategy is to place more resources into content marketing, which “has always been seen as an important way for us to let more people get to know Clicbot and an incentive for us to develop a better product,” says the executive.

Is Clicbot a spiritual successor to Cozmo? (Mostly no, but maybe a little yes)

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Xiaomi appoints Alvin Tse as General Manager of India business

Xiaomi is elevating Alvin Tse, a veteran at the firm, as the General Manager for its India business as the Chinese technology group bolsters its efforts to fight increasing competition from rivals including Samsung and looks to smoothen its relationship with New Delhi.

The appointment of Tse (pictured above), who until recently led Xiaomi’s Indonesia business, follows the transition of Manu Kumar Jain, the previous head of Xiaomi India, to a globe role as Group VP. India is Xiaomi’s largest international market.

Under Jain’s leadership Xiaomi grew from being yet another upstart to the largest smartphone maker in India, a position it has largely maintained for over three years. He left his India leadership position last year.

Tse is no stranger to the India, either. He was instrumental in shaping Xiaomi’s strategy and execution in its early days, according to people familiar with the matter, and has over the years served multiple roles at the firm. Tse, who is also an angel investor in several Indian startups, was also one of the founding members at Poco, a sub-brand Xiaomi launched before spinning it out as an independent business.

“Post his transition, Alvin will join hands with the Xiaomi India leadership team and support the company’s next phase of growth. Being a British national and true global citizen, Alvin has helped Xiaomi expand successfully into many global markets,” the company said in a statement.

Xiaomi also announced that Anuj Sharma, a former Motorola executive who has also previously worked at Xiaomi and moved to Poco over two years ago, is rejoining the Chinese giant as Chief Marketing Officer.

“With their guidance, Xiaomi India will continue to stay true to its core philosophy of relentlessly building amazing products with honest prices such that everyone in the world can enjoy a better lifestyle through innovative technology,” the company said.

The rejig comes at a crucial time for Xiaomi. Even as it maintains the tentpole position in the Indian smartphone market, Samsung and Realme are increasingly closing the gap.

A look at India’s smartphone market. Data: Canalys

Xiaomi is also confronting a strange debacle in India. In April this year, India’s anti-money laundering agency seized assets worth about $725 million from Xiaomi India for what it said was a breach of the country’s foreign exchange laws. The move has been put on hold pending a court decision.

The agency also summoned Xiaomi executives including Jain for questioning earlier this year over tax compliance. Xiaomi, which has denied wrongdoing, later alleged that its executives faced threats of “physical violence” during the questioning, Reuters reported.

The India Cellular and Electronics Association, a lobby group that represents Apple and many other tech giants, late last month called out Indian authorities for lacking understanding of how patents and royalty atop of them work, an element at the core of the dispute between Xiaomi and the anti-money laundering agency.

Over the past four years, Xiaomi has aggressively expanded its presence in India, setting up its iconic stores and has partnered with scores of local retailers. It has also made deep inroads with phone manufacturers such as Foxconn to move much of its assembly work to India from China. But the firm is not immune to the geopolitical tension between India and China.

India banned over 200 apps with links to China in 2020. Some of Xiaomi’s apps also got blacklisted in India and amid the scuffle between the two nuclear-armed neighboring nations, Xiaomi rebranded many stores in the country to position itself as an Indian firm.

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Google unveils new options for removing personal data from search results

Gooood [your time of day] startup fans! It’s a brand new week and we’re flippin’ psyched that it’s… wait, it is May? How’d that happen? In any case – May 2nd 2022, here we go. Spring is a good time to do a bit of a spring clean; we loved Zack’s guide to how to remove your personal data from Google Search introduction. And if you’re on Android, Carly’s run-down of the operating system’s privacy-forward features are worth a skim, as well. 

HOLD THE PRESS. Well, don’t, because we schedule these newsletters in advance BUT! When it hits your inbox, click this right away, because someone is about to catch a falling rocket with a helicopter and it’s the single-most A-Team meets MacGyver thing we could imagine. 

See you tomorrow for extremely on-the-pulse references to 1980s TV shows tomorrow — Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • Glamping may not be so bad with this at your campsite: A battery the size of a cooler, that has wheels, plugs and air conditioning? Yes please. Being in Mother Nature may be fun for some, but battery maker EcoFlow is going after those who only occasionally have to do it. Factor in, too, a great origin story where the company went from a Kickstarter project to a $1 billion company in five years.
  • Open gets its horn: We’re not sure, but when your business is mentioned as having “dramatically changed the relationship between banks and fintechs,” we think that’s a sign you are doing well. Indeed, India-based neobank Open was rewarded with a $1 billion valuation. This is also taking place in a country where Manish reported, “just a few years ago, most banks in India were skeptical of neobanks and it was very difficult to persuade any of them for a partnership.” Raise a glass Open!
  • What happened at UiPath: By all accounts, the robotic process automation company had been doing well, bringing in investment dollars and a high valuation. It even did well on its first day as a public company last year. Since that time, share price is down, and so is valuation, prompting Alex and Ron to dive into why that might be.

Startups and VC

Over on Lucas and Anita’s shiny new Chain Reaction podcast, Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire is predicting that a lot of VCs are going to pull back; and exploring the regulatory challenges that are opaque to a lot of crypto investors. 

Meanwhile, Alex posits that no one told the crypto world that startup megadeals aren’t as plentiful anymore, and Natasha throws up her arms in frustration about all the weird shapes investors are wrappening themselves into in an effort to avoid calling spades spades. Folks, a rose is a rose, and it smells as sweet by any other name. And a seed round is a seed round, no matter its olfactory qualities. 

Can you smell what the Rock is cooking: 

2022 cybersecurity product-led growth market map

To paint a detailed picture of the competitive landscape for product-led growth cybersecurity companies, investor Ross Halieliuk tracked over 800 products in a market map that includes more than 600 vendors.

His map uncovered several trends redefining PLG adoption right now in the cybersecurity industry, and some of it is bad news for early-stage startups.

In this environment, most CISOs are experiencing “vendor overload,” which means small players that lack a robust network and fat marketing budgets can’t participate in the same sales channels. 

If your investors won’t approve a series of invitation-only dinners with your target clients, what are your options?

H1 2022 cybersecurity product-led growth market map

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Big Tech Inc.

Going from Open to wanting to close our eyes to rub them and make sure we read this right: India’s anti-money laundering agency said over the weekend that it “seized assets worth about $725 million from Xiaomi India for breaching the country’s foreign exchange laws in a major blow to the Chinese phone maker that commands the Indian smartphone market.” Wow. 

In Apple news, the company ran into a bit of trouble with the European Union, which reported some preliminary findings related to an antitrust case: Apple was found to have made it so competitors could provide “NFC-enabled contactless payments on the iPhone to develop other mobile wallets and compete fairly with Apple Pay,” claiming this type of technology should be open to anyone. Now it’s Apple’s turn to respond to the charges. Meanwhile, you can now get Apple Music on Roku. 

We hand-picked these next items just for you. Enjoy:

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India seizes $725 million assets from Xiaomi unit over illegal remittances

India’s anti-money laundering agency said on Saturday it has seized assets worth about $725 million from Xiaomi India for breaching the country’s foreign exchange laws in a major blow to the Chinese phone maker that commands the Indian smartphone market.

The Indian Enforcement Directorate said it had seized bank accounts of Xiaomi India after finding that the company had remitted $725 million to three foreign-based entities “in the guise of royalty” payments.

“Such huge amounts in the name of royalties were remitted on the instructions of their Chinese parent group entities,” it said. The amount remitted to “other two US-based unrelated entities” were also for the “ultimate benefit of the Xiaomi group entities,” the agency added.

The directorate, which has been investigating Xiaomi for several months, said the Chinese firm has “provided misleading information to the banks while remitting the money abroad.”

Xiaomi, which has yet to comment, commanded 23% of India’s smartphone market share in the quarter that ended in March this year, according to market research firm Counterpoint.

The company has taken a hit in its popularity in recent years following India’s ban on Chinese apps over national security concerns. For optics measures, Xiaomi rebranded several of its shops in India last year with “Made in India” banners two years ago to distance its Chinese brand.

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China’s logistics robot maker VisionNav raises $76M at $500M valuation

Industrial robotics has in recent years become one of the hottest tech sectors in China as the country encourages the use of advanced technology to enhance efficiency on the production floor.

VisionNav Robotics, which specializes in autonomous forklifts, stacking vehicles and other logistics robots, is the latest industrial robot maker from China to get funded. The Shenzhen-based automated guided vehicle (AGV) startup has snagged 500 million yuan (around $76 million) from a Series C extension round led by Meituan, China’s food delivery giant, and 5Y Capital, a prominent venture capital firm in the country. Its existing investors IDG, TikTok’s parent firm ByteDance, and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun’s Shunwei Capital also joined in the round.

Founded in 2016 by a group of PhDs from the University of Tokyo and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, VisionNav’s valuation was boosted to over $500 million in this round, up from $393 million just six months ago when it picked up 300 million yuan ($47 million) in a Series C financing, it told TechCrunch.

The new funding will allow VisionNav to invest in R&D and broaden its use cases, expanding from a focus on horizontal and vertical moving to other functions like stacking and loading.

The key piece in adding new categories is to train and improve the startup’s software algorithms, less so developing new hardware, said the firm’s vice president of global sales, Don Dong. “From controlling, dispatching, to sensing, we will have to improve our software capabilities as a whole.”

A major challenge for robots, said Dong, is to effectively perceive and navigate the world around them. The problem with a camera-powered autonomous driving solution, like that of Tesla, is it can be easily affected by bright light. Lidar, a sensing technology heralded for its more accurate distance detection, was still too expensive for mass adoption a few years ago, but it has seen its price slashed substantially by Chinese players like DJI-affiliated Livox and Robosense.

“Before, we were mostly providing indoor solutions. Now that we are expanding to unmanned truck loading, which is often semi-outdoors, it’s inevitable we will be operating in strong light. That’s why we are adapting a combination of vision and radar technologies to navigate our robots,” said Dong.

VisionNav sees Pittsburg-based Seegrid and France-based Balyo as its international rivals but believed it has a “price advantage” for being in China, which houses its manufacturing and R&D activities. The startup is already dispatching robots to clients in Southeast Asia, East Asia, as well as the Netherlands, the UK, and Hungary. It’s in the process of setting up subsidiaries in Europe and the US.

The startup works with system integrators to sell its robots, meaning it doesn’t collect detailed customer information, making data compliance in foreign markets simpler. It’s expected to derive 50-60% of its revenues abroad in the next few years, compared with the current share of 30-40%. The US is one of its main target markets, said Dong, as the forklift industry there generates “greater gross revenues than that of China despite having a smaller number of forklift vehicles.”

Last year, VisionNav pulled in total sales revenues between 200 million ($31 million) and 250 million yuan ($39 million). It currently operates a team of around 400 people across China and it’s expected to reach 1,000 staff this year by hiring aggressively overseas.

China roundup: Keep down internet upstarts, cultivate hard tech

SoftBank leads $15M round for China’s industrial robot maker Youibot