"Spring Festival Gala's Top Star" Sparks a New Capital Boom Galaxy General and Songyan Power Raise 3.5 Billion Yuan to Win the Humanoid Robot Battle

From the CCTV Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse to major satellite TV galas, humanoid robots have repeatedly taken center stage, becoming the undisputed protagonists. They practice martial arts, perform backflips, act in sketches alongside humans, and autonomously complete everyday tasks such as folding clothes and fetching objects. The intense exposure of robots on stage quickly resonated in the capital markets.

On March 2, both “actors” on the Year of the Horse Gala stage announced new rounds of funding. Galaxy General Robotics announced the completion of a 2.5 billion yuan (RMB) new financing round, breaking its previous record of $300 million (approximately 2.1 billion RMB) set in December 2025 for China’s embodied intelligence single-round funding. On the same day, Songyan Power announced the completion of a Series B financing round totaling nearly 1 billion yuan.

The wave of capital enthusiasm is once again surging toward the embodied intelligence sector. Behind the lively financing activity, a brutal industry淘汰赛 has already begun.

“2026 will be a year for the embodied robot industry to sift out the false and accelerate reshuffling,” said Guo Tao, an angel investor and senior AI expert, in an interview with the Daily Economic News. He pointed out that with industry giants in automotive and mobile phone manufacturing leveraging mature supply chains, vast data, and manufacturing capabilities, the industry will shift from the conceptual “toy era” to the practical “tool era.”

When the stage lights go out, the real test has just begun.

From “eye-catching” to “money-making,” Galaxy General and Songyan Power are the first to realize the “dividends” of this gala.

Behind the proliferation of robots on stage is a tacit strategic consensus among major companies: the Spring Festival Gala has become a high-traffic battleground that must be seized in this race.

Previously, Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst of iiMedia Research, told the Daily Economic News that robots appearing on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala can transmit industry influence to the capital level. With the technical scenarios backed by CCTV, confidence in the sector is strengthened, accelerating investment deployment.

In fact, the wealth creation myth in this sector has long been evident.

In 2016, UBTECH’s 540 robots danced simultaneously, triggering multiple subsequent funding rounds. By 2025, Yushu Technology, with just a 3-minute stage performance, achieved a market miracle with over 5,500 units shipped annually and a valuation soaring to 12 billion yuan.

By 2026, Galaxy General and Songyan Power became the earliest winners to realize dividends in this traffic race.

On the Spring Festival Gala stage, Galaxy General’s Galbot G1 robot, relying on its self-developed “Galaxy Brain” system, performed a series of delicate operations such as cracking walnuts,串烤肠,拾碎玻璃, and folding clothes—all without preset programs and with real-time autonomous decision-making. It became the first robot in Gala history to truly “work independently.” Meanwhile, Songyan Power left a vivid impression with high-difficulty street dance, the “long-necked” E1, and a bionic robot resembling actress Cai Ming.

Less than half a month after the Gala, both companies announced major funding rounds.

On March 2, Galaxy General announced the completion of a 2.5 billion yuan financing round, with investors including the “national team” and industry capital. Galaxy General stated that after this round, its total funding remains the highest in China’s embodied intelligence field, further consolidating its leading position as the highest-valued unlisted humanoid robot company.

On the same day, Songyan Power announced the completion of Series B funding, led by CATL’s industry platform Chendao Capital, with co-investors including Guoke Investment and Jingguosheng Fund, totaling nearly 1 billion yuan.

However, an undeniable reality is that the marginal effect of traffic from the Spring Festival Gala is rapidly diminishing. As robots continue to appear on stage and audiences’ novelty wanes, only perfect stage performance can no longer satisfy viewers and investors.

“Since the beginning of this year, robots have gained very high recognition in the funding wave. This is driven by dual factors: value validation and strategic positioning,” Zhang Yi told the Daily Economic News. He noted that with the Gala’s robot craze going viral, technological implementation has shifted from concept to reality. Capital focus has moved from past conceptual hype to tangible, verifiable commercial value, emphasizing ROI and specific application scenarios. As a result, the first tier of embodied intelligence companies is widely sought after.

Paths of capital diverge; the “true and false” test begins.

Specifically, Galaxy General and Songyan Power each focus on different development directions, as reflected in their disclosed funding announcements, revealing two distinct investment logics in the humanoid robot sector.

Galaxy General’s 2.5 billion yuan new round, led by the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund (the third phase of the National Big Fund), involves state-owned enterprises like Sinopec, SAIC Financial Holdings, SMIC Juyuan, and Yizhuang State Investment. It is reportedly the first time a national-level AI industry fund has invested in embodied intelligence, emphasizing its strategic importance as a national emerging industry.

Behind the capital chase, Galaxy General has built what is claimed to be the world’s largest billion-yuan-level embodied intelligence data set, pioneering a “synthetic simulation data-centric, real machine data supplemented” virtual-real fusion training paradigm. Its自主研发的“银河星脑” connects multi-modal perception to real-time control, solving long-standing industry issues like modular fragmentation and response delays. It is the world’s first integrated “brain—cerebellum—neural control” end-to-end embodied large model.

Galaxy General states that in industrial manufacturing, it has partnered with clients like CATL, Bosch Germany, and Toyota, with thousands of orders. Its industrial heavy-duty robot Galbot S1 is the only humanoid robot to operate normally in CATL’s battery factories. In the civilian sector, the “Galaxy Space Cabin” convenience stores have been established in over 100 locations across more than 20 cities, setting a global record for continuous 24/7 operation of instant retail warehouses for over a year.

In contrast, Songyan Power’s Series B financing reflects a different investment logic. Led by CATL’s industry platform Chendao Capital, as a player deeply involved in clean energy and intelligent manufacturing, its core strategy is to seek industrial chain synergy and ecosystem positioning.

Songyan Power’s advantage lies in its focus on consumer markets. As the only company in the industry with both bipedal humanoid and bionic humanoid product lines, it believes the future of humanoid robots involves strong interaction and emotional resonance, with bionic technology key to opening the home consumer market. The company holds over 30 core patents, has built a dedicated mass production base, and launched the industry’s first high-performance humanoid robot “Xiaobu Mi” priced at 10,000 yuan, testing the incremental potential of the C-end market with high cost-performance.

The hot funding wave at the start of 2026 has accelerated the “landing” process of humanoid robots and raised demands for companies to clarify their positioning.

Guo Tao emphasized that this funding surge results from the resonance of policies, technology, and market expectations. Embodied intelligence has been incorporated into the national “14th Five-Year Plan,” with clear policy directions; future demand for intelligent robots could reach hundreds of millions of units, far surpassing the automotive industry; over 90% of hardware is自主研发, core components are accelerating国产化, and commercialization conditions are becoming more mature. Multiple factors are driving the industry from early concept exploration into a critical period of technological implementation and commercial application.

He also pointed out that the industry is rapidly shifting from the conceptual “toy era” to the practical “tool era.” This transition means that companies lacking core technology, mass production capacity, and application scenarios will gradually be淘汰. “This year is a crucial node for humanoid robot commercialization, but full普及 still has a way to go: in the short term, automotive manufacturing and 3C electronics are expected to be the first to break through. Large-scale commercialization still faces challenges like technological maturity, cost control, and safety standards.”

Guo Tao believes that in 2026, the embodied intelligence sector will see more cautious capital, favoring leading companies with mass production capabilities and market prospects, making it harder for startups to raise funds. Meanwhile, the entry of giants raises competition thresholds, and market share will concentrate among companies with technological, cost, and scenario advantages. Many small and medium startups may be pushed out due to insufficient competitiveness.

As the stage’s traffic dividend diminishes, this race for technological, mass production, scenario, and commercialization leadership enters a decisive phase.