Beijing Yunji Technology Co., Ltd. (Yunji Technology) is a leading Chinese company in the production of hotel robots, accumulating a net loss of over 800 million yuan in the past three years. This news made it to the top searches on Baidu on April 30.
According to a report by “China News Weekly” on April 28, in some hotels in China, guests can see chubby white hotel robots rolling around to deliver takeout, toiletries, water, and more to customers. Yunji Technology is the leading enterprise producing these hotel robots.
By the end of last year, Yunji Technology’s robots had been deployed in over 30,000 hotels in China. Based on the revenue in 2023, Yunji Technology holds a market share of 9% globally and 12.2% in China’s hotel sector, ranking first in both categories. However, from 2022 to 2024, its total revenue amounted to 551 million yuan, with a cumulative net loss reaching 815 million yuan.
Meanwhile, Yunji Technology, facing financial pressure due to losses, may find it challenging to ease the situation in the short term. By the end of last year, Yunji Technology had only around 100 million yuan in cash and cash equivalents, while its current liabilities exceeded 2 billion yuan, with 1.87 billion yuan being redemption debts triggered by the listing betting agreement. If Yunji Technology’s application for listing is withdrawn or rejected, or if it fails to go public successfully within 18 months after submitting the application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it will face substantial debt repayment.
Currently, Yunji Technology has formally submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to go public in Hong Kong.
The report indicates that the entire commercial service robot industry in China is collectively facing operational difficulties similar to those of Yunji Technology.
Commercial service robots refer to robots providing various services to humans outside the manufacturing sector. This includes food delivery robots, hotel robots, commercial cleaning robots, tour guiding robots, and more.
A certain hotel robot agent told “China News Weekly” that starting from 2022, the Chinese hotel robot market’s momentum has declined, and many brands have entered the market. To seize market share, price wars have intensified. Since 2022, Yunji Technology, Qilang Intelligence, Purdue Technology, and other commercial service robot companies have been reported to undergo large-scale layoffs.
Moreover, the fact that commercial service robots are struggling to generate profits has once again become the focus of the market. Returning to the essence of business and seeking profitability has become the top priority for industry leaders.
An anonymous financial expert mentioned to the media, “For hotel robots, if they only perform simple delivery functions, the cost savings and efficiency improvements are relatively limited.” The expert pointed out that in such situations, intense competition to expand market share by burning cash becomes inevitable, leading to unavoidable losses.
A chain hotel manager shared that initially, when procuring robots, the consideration was to potentially save on labor costs. However, the actual usage didn’t meet expectations: “Although using robots for deliveries can free up some time and energy at the front desk, adding a robot doesn’t reduce my staff size.”