Yunqi Capital | Wireless Pool Robot Company "YuanDing Intelligence" Closes Nearly 1 Billion RMB Strategic Funding Round, Partners with Industry Giants to Accelerate Global Expansion
Seizing the Critical Moment, Breaking Through Across All Channels
On April 2, Aiper, a global leader in wireless robotic pool cleaner sales, announced the completion of a new strategic funding round of nearly RMB 1 billion. Fluidra, a global giant in the pool industry, made a strategic investment in Aiper, with Yunqi Capital joining as a new investor in this round. Existing shareholders XVC, Fosun RZ Capital, and Fengqiao Capital continued to increase their stakes.
This financing not only provides Aiper with strong capital backing, but also marks its formal breakthrough into global pool professional channels — a qualitative leap at the strategic level. Read on with this edition of "Yunqi Capital" to learn more about Aiper and the details of this funding round.
Yunqi Capital's Investment Perspective
Yunqi Capital continues to be bullish on the innovation opportunities for smart hardware in essential end-user scenarios, maintaining long-term attention to high-growth categories such as smart pool robots.
As the leader in the smart pool robot track, Aiper has not only built a high-performance product matrix covering European and American backyard scenarios, but has also firmly grasped the decisive point of this race. By seizing first-mover advantage in overseas brand building and offline channel deployment, it has established significant competitive moats. We look forward to Aiper working with Fluidra to continue leading the backyard intelligence revolution, creating more efficient and worry-free quality living experiences for households worldwide.
The following content is adapted from 36Kr
01 Dual-Driver of Funding + Partnership: Breaking Through the "Last Mile" of Pool Professional Channels
In the global pool and wellness equipment sector, Fluidra has over 50 years of deep industry experience, with operations spanning 47 countries, 36 global factories, more than 130 sales branches, and over 6,000 employees worldwide. Its portfolio of brands — including AstralPool, Zodiac, Jandy, and Polaris — are household names in Europe, America, and beyond, widely used in residential and commercial pool markets globally. Through this financing and strategic partnership, Fluidra's global distribution network, proprietary technology, and industry resources will provide powerful support to Aiper, enabling it to fully enter the previously high-barrier pool professional channels and truly achieve the transformation from "online leadership" to "omnichannel breakthrough."
Industry experts note: "The pool robot market has already become a red ocean. For most new entrants, online channels are relatively accessible, but competition is severely cutthroat and difficult to sustain long-term. Breaking into mainstream Western KA channels such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, Walmart, Leroy Merlin, and MediaMarkt has always been a high barrier. But for pool robots, the most valuable yet highest-barrier channel is the pool professional channel — there are nearly 300,000 pool-related brick-and-mortar stores globally. These channels are relatively closed and exclusive, making them unattainable resources for new brands. Whoever enters the mainstream Western KA channels and pool professional channels will be the ultimate winner."
Since 2023, Aiper has achieved number-one market share by sales volume on Amazon in the US, European, and Australian markets, and has entered more than 7,000 mainstream Western KA stores globally. This collaboration with Fluidra is equivalent to igniting a new engine for accessing global pool professional channels, marking Aiper's entry into deeper waters and new heights in its global market strategy.
02 Reshaping the Pool Robot Landscape: Aiper and Fluidra Will Define a New Ecosystem
As one of the most growth-potential tracks in pool cleaning, the pool robot sector is undergoing profound industry transformation. As technology dividends gradually converge, the race has entered a new stage of competing on supply chain efficiency, channel breadth, and brand momentum.
Aiper, through its self-developed wireless technology, AI technology, and intelligent water quality management, has become the number-one online sales brand in Europe, America, and Australia within just four years (data source: Amazon). The company has also demonstrated exceptional operational capabilities in technology accumulation, patent deployment, supply chain integration, operational efficiency, and team globalization.
This strategic partnership with Fluidra not only represents the joining of hands between a globally growth-oriented and innovative pool robot brand and a platform with considerable industry experience and leadership, but will also catalyze a new industry structure in the global pool robot market. This "technology + channels + efficiency" three-in-one combination will reshape the competitive ecosystem of the pool robot track, accelerating the industry's evolution from "fragmentation" toward "scale, branding, and globalization."
Aiper's third-generation Scuba X series intelligent pool cleaning robot
03 Facing the World: Aiper Builds the Future of the Smart Backyard Ecosystem
Wang Yang, Aiper's founder and CEO, stated: "This is not just a funding round, but a strategic resonance. Thank you to all new and existing shareholders for your support! With the completion of this new round of financing, and with Fluidra's joining, we not only have sufficient capital for future development, but have also opened up the previously unattainable pool professional market. We will continue to increase our investment in technological innovation, product matrix, brand promotion, and global supply chain, expanding into global markets with even greater strength."
Regarding the future, Wang Yang said: "At present, Aiper will remain very focused on the pool scenario — doing it specialized, refined, and strong. We will continue to deepen our presence in mature European and American markets, actively expand into emerging markets in the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific, and accelerate the construction of a global smart backyard ecosystem."
