Dobot Seeks A-Share Return After Triple Hong Kong Fundraising; Core Product Prices Plunge, Receivables Worsen, and New Whistleblower Complaint Emerges

Deep News07-17 18:01

On July 15th, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced that Dobot's application for an initial public offering on the ChiNext board will be submitted to the listing committee for review on July 22nd. This follows less than three months after the company's IPO application was accepted on April 27th.

Dobot was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 2024. Within a year of that listing, the company conducted two additional share placements, raising a total of over RMB 2.5 billion. This series of capital raises has driven the company's debt ratio down to just 15%, with cash holdings far exceeding its interest-bearing debt. This context raises questions about the necessity of its current plan to return to the A-share market via the ChiNext board to raise further funds for production expansion and working capital.

In recent years, Dobot has reported consecutive annual losses, with operating cash flow persistently negative. Notably, the number of days sales outstanding in accounts receivable has climbed against the industry trend. More critically, the average selling prices of its core CR and Nova series products have fallen sharply, and the company's stock price has been in a prolonged decline.

Just before the listing committee review, Dobot has faced another challenge: a new real-name whistleblower complaint alleging significant disclosure omissions and misrepresentations, adding uncertainty to its ChiNext IPO process.

Triple Fundraising in Hong Kong Precedes New A-Share Ambition

Bearing the title of "global sales leader in collaborative robots," Dobot is set for its ChiNext IPO review on July 22nd. The process from application acceptance to review took only 86 days.

The company's Hong Kong IPO in December 2024 raised approximately RMB 768 million, earmarked for technology development, production capacity expansion, overseas sales channel development, and general working capital.

In July 2025, Dobot announced a share placement that raised about RMB 1.037 billion for R&D, potential investments or acquisitions in the robotics supply chain, sales network expansion, and working capital.

Another placement followed in November 2025, raising roughly RMB 780 million for similar purposes. Combined with the IPO proceeds, the total funds raised within a year of listing reached approximately RMB 2.5 billion.

This aggressive fundraising pushed the company's debt ratio down from 50% in 2023 to just 15% by the end of 2025, with cash significantly outstripping interest-bearing debt.

The current ChiNext IPO plan aims to raise RMB 1.2 billion for projects including the R&D and industrialization of multi-legged/humanoid robots, marketing system development, and working capital supplementation. The rationale for seeking further substantial funding from the A-share market at this juncture is under scrutiny.

Financial Strain Amidst Sales Growth

Operating in the hot field of embodied AI, Dobot has seen significant sales volume growth, but its financial performance tells a different story.

From 2023 to 2025, revenue grew from RMB 287 million to RMB 493 million, representing a compound annual growth rate of 31.13%. In 2025, sales revenue from six-axis collaborative robots surged 44.7% year-on-year to RMB 302 million, while embodied AI robot business revenue exploded by 418.8%.

However, this revenue surge has not translated to profitability. The company reported net losses attributable to shareholders of RMB 103 million, RMB 95 million, and RMB 84 million over the past three years. Cumulative losses from 2021 to 2025 exceeded RMB 376 million, marking five consecutive years of losses. For the first half of 2026, the company expects its net loss to widen further to between RMB 90 million and RMB 120 million.

Accompanying these losses, operating cash flow has been consistently negative, recording outflows of RMB 158 million, RMB 92 million, and RMB 43 million from 2023 to 2025, continuing a trend of net outflows since 2022.

Simultaneously, the company's collection of receivables has deteriorated. The days sales outstanding for accounts receivable and notes surged from 26 days in 2023 to 66 days in 2025, an average annual increase of 60%.

Sharp Price Declines for Core Products

More critically, the average selling price of Dobot's core CR series dropped from RMB 66,000 per unit in 2023 to RMB 56,800 in 2025, a 14% decline over two years. The Nova series price plummeted from RMB 35,800 to RMB 20,400 per unit, a drop exceeding 40% in two years. The average price for six-axis collaborative robots has nearly halved, falling from RMB 65,900 per unit in 2021 to RMB 38,200 in 2025.

Over the past year or so, the company's Hong Kong stock price has fallen over 70% from a high of HK$83 to around HK$23, indicating significant investor skepticism.

New Whistleblower Complaint at Critical Juncture

Adding to the company's challenges, an article published on a public account under the name "Song Tao Robotics" has made a real-name complaint against Dobot and its founder, Liu Peichao. The complaint alleges that company documents stipulated the complainant held nearly 70% of a shareholding platform, while the IPO prospectus only registered 22.45%, concealing a rights discrepancy worth hundreds of millions. It further accuses the company of falsely stating there are no equity disputes or pending litigation, alleging the prospectus deliberately omitted parts of court documents, constituting misrepresentation.

With Dobot at a critical stage in its ChiNext IPO review, this new whistleblower complaint undoubtedly adds another layer of uncertainty to its path back to the A-share market.

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

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