The planned stock market debut for a robotics firm has encountered a significant obstacle following a high-stakes whistleblower complaint, casting a shadow over its corporate governance and disclosure practices.
According to the initial schedule, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange was set to review the ChiNext listing application of DOBOT (02432.HK) on July 22nd. However, just five days before this crucial meeting, a formal, signed complaint from the company's former co-founder and COO, Song Tao, has introduced major uncertainty into the process.
Share Ownership Dispute Raises Questions
The complaint centers on alleged discrepancies in the company's prospectus regarding share ownership and information disclosure. Previously, DOBOT had characterized a related historical dispute in its filings as "adjudicated by the court" with "no pending litigation." The new complaint, presenting fresh evidence, challenges this assertion. This development not only triggered a sharp 12.84% single-day drop in the company's Hong Kong-listed shares but also raises the possibility of a delay or suspension of its A-share IPO, given the strict registration-based system's emphasis on clear ownership and truthful disclosure.
The core of the complaint focuses on the ownership of property shares in the company's employee持股平台 (DOBOT Partnership). Song Tao claims entitlement to 69.74% of the partnership's shares based on a 2023 document bearing the company's seal and founder's signature. In contrast, the prospectus filed by DOBOT lists his shareholding at only 22.46%. This represents a significant discrepancy concerning approximately 47.28% of the partnership's shares, potentially valued at over 100 million yuan and corresponding to about 2% of the company's total equity.
DOBOT has maintained a stance of procedural compliance, stating that Song Tao's incentive shares were reclaimed following his departure in March 2021. The company cited a December 2025 ruling from the Guangdong High Court which deemed the dispute "not within the jurisdiction of the people's courts." Based on this ruling and completed industrial and commercial changes, the company concluded for regulators that its share ownership was clear and free of unresolved litigation. On the day the complaint surfaced, DOBOT issued a swift public response, denying the allegations as false and misleading and stating that listing preparations were proceeding as planned.
However, a procedural court dismissal on jurisdictional grounds does not necessarily equate to a resolution of the underlying commercial dispute. A critical point is that the 2023 document cited by the complainant was not mentioned in the prospectus. Under the A-share registration system, the truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness of information disclosure are fundamental. If regulators determine that the company failed to adequately disclose a potential dispute involving substantial equity claims, it could violate the core requirement for clear ownership. This situation may prompt further inquiries and specialized verification from the exchange, potentially leading to a postponement of the listing review.
Previously Smooth Sailing on Strong Fundamentals
Prior to the complaint, DOBOT's path to an A-share IPO appeared remarkably smooth, bolstered by its business transformation and alignment with favorable macro policies. The company has evolved from a collaborative robot manufacturer into a "full-form embodied intelligent robotics company." Its core business covers multiple series of collaborative robots for industrial and commercial use, with the company reportedly holding the top global market share of 13.2% in 2025.
Additionally, DOBOT has aggressively pursued the strategic growth market of embodied intelligent robots, launching a product matrix including bipedal humanoid, wheeled humanoid, and quadruped robots, with over 90% core component self-development. This "core business +前沿 concept" model translated into strong revenue growth, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 31% from 2023 to 2025, reaching 493 million yuan in 2025. Revenue for Q1 2026 reportedly surged 110.68% year-over-year to 112 million yuan.
Impressive operational data, coupled with strong policy support for "new quality productive forces" and the embodied intelligence sector in 2026, garnered significant market attention. Its status as a Hong Kong-listed company seeking a secondary listing on the A-share market also aligned with regulatory efforts to facilitate cross-market financing for high-quality tech firms. These favorable factors, combined with meticulous legal handling of historical disputes by top-tier intermediaries in the application materials, helped the company project an image of solid operations and sound governance during preliminary reviews, advancing its application to the final meeting stage.
Profitability Concerns Amid Losses and Price Competition
Despite the positive narrative, the market has shown signs of concern. Even before the July 17th complaint triggered a stock crash, DOBOT's Hong Kong shares had been on a prolonged downward trajectory, retreating nearly 60% from their post-IPO high by early July 2026. This divergence between A-share listing enthusiasm and Hong Kong market performance reflects institutional investors' rational reassessment of fundamental risks, particularly the issue of "revenue growth without profit growth."
A primary concern is the structural矛盾 between scale expansion and persistent losses. From 2021 to 2025, the company accumulated losses exceeding 376 million yuan. The trend worsened in Q1 2026; despite a 110.68% year-over-year revenue increase, the net loss for the quarter was -80.49 million yuan, representing a 313.29% year-over-year decline.
Intensifying industry competition is also putting pressure on profitability. As collaborative robots become more commonplace, the average selling price of DOBOT's core products is facing downward pressure. Disclosures show the average price of its CR series dropped from 66,000 yuan in 2023 to 56,800 yuan in 2025, while the Nova series price plummeted 43% from 35,800 yuan to 20,400 yuan. This contributed to a decline in the company's comprehensive gross margin from 48.47% to 46.49%, with potential for further erosion.
In this context, the embodied intelligence business, a major strategic focus, has become a significant financial burden in the short term. Although revenue from this segment surged 418.84% year-over-year in 2025, its scale was only 20.04 million yuan, accounting for just 4.09% of total revenue. To support R&D in this new赛道,研发费用 soared nearly 60% year-over-year to 115 million yuan in 2025. The现状 of "pressure on traditional business毛利 coupled with heavy cash burn in new ventures" creates substantial challenges for the company's承诺 of achieving profitability by 2028.
While DOBOT has established certain industrial advantages in robotics出海 and embodied intelligence, which form the core of its A-share listing ambition, the whistleblower complaint on the eve of the review has exposed potential governance flaws and placed its disclosure quality under intense scrutiny. In an environment where "rushing to list with unresolved issues" is increasingly difficult, how DOBOT clarifies the share ownership confusion for regulators and the market, and demonstrates its ability to navigate industry competition cycles and achieve genuine profitability, will be crucial to determining its ultimate success in reaching the A-share market.
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