5Y News | Direct-Drive Precision Motion Solution Specialist "Benmo Technology" Closes Pre-A Round Worth Tens of Millions of RMB

五源资本·May 20, 2021

Drive the world directly.

Direct-drive precision motion solutions specialist Benmo Technology recently announced the completion of a Pre-A funding round in the tens of millions of RMB last November, bringing its valuation to several hundred million RMB. The round was led by 5Y Capital, with existing investors MiraclePlus and Dami Venture Capital participating.

Zhang Di

Founder & CEO, Benmo Technology

What is Benmo Technology's positioning?

Zhang Di: Since its founding, Benmo Technology has focused on one thing — eliminating gear reducers from mechanical equipment and using motors to directly and precisely power all kinds of devices. This is also the origin of our English name: Direct Drive.

If we want to "directly drive," then at minimum we must "recognize the root and discard the branches" — otherwise there's nothing "direct" about it. That's where our Chinese name comes from too.

In robotics, what's difficult about eliminating gear reducers? What are Benmo's advantages?

Zhang Di: Direct drive in robotics isn't unexplored territory — it's just that no one has cracked it for many years. But simplifying complexity is absolutely the trend. The reasons breakthroughs haven't happened are varied: technical challenges, like how to simultaneously improve power and torque density while maintaining efficiency advantages; market factors, like direct-drive solutions being long perceived as expensive in industry.

But in our view, the obstacle is largely mental. Gear reducers have provided stable power to humanity for centuries, and the path dependency exists not just in industrial structures but even in the minds of technical decision-makers.

Benmo's advantages are, first, that we've introduced precision motion solutions adapted to industry needs, striving to help customers move faster from solution trials to mass production confirmation, accelerating the pace of new solution adoption. Additionally, Benmo will keep refining its technology, substantially improving power and torque density while maintaining the efficiency that matters most in replacing gear reducer solutions — bringing superior alternatives to the industry.

What "contrarian" thinking do you have about your industry? Have you faced misunderstandings?

Zhang Di: Using direct drive to seek replacement across industries is itself contrarian. But we know that this very contrarianism gives us enough room to survive. Because consensus doesn't equal optimal or true.

In some niche segments, traditional gear reducer solutions are already completely unnecessary, yet industry consensus overlooks the trend that direct-drive technology has matured. The industry may still be stuck on "direct drive might have better precision, faster response, higher efficiency, longer lifespan, but it's just big and expensive" — that's genuinely no longer the case.

What are your imaginings for the industry's future? How much have you achieved at this stage?

Zhang Di: Benmo firmly believes in Occam's razor, in recognizing the root and discarding the branches. From the perspective of power delivery, since the essence is electrical energy being converted to mechanical energy, the necessary components should only be those decisively related to that conversion. Therefore we believe the future world should not have gear reducers.

Of course, from an engineering perspective, gear reducers do have some unique advantages in many industries. But Benmo has already penetrated some niche segments very suitable for direct gear reducer elimination, receiving excellent market feedback. "Directly driving the world" is a long road for Benmo, and we look forward to working with friends across industries to do direct drive well.

Why did you choose 5Y Capital's investment?

Zhang Di: Because crazy us has actually started being believed.

The power of belief is the primal force that makes the world better. Without it, there would be no Moore's Law, no smartphones, no modern human society.

Alignment on core values is the foundation of 5Y's belief in us, and our belief in 5Y.

Peter

Vice President, 5Y Capital

Why invest in Benmo Technology?

Peter: 5Y deeply believes in the vision that robots will enter every industry over the next decade and fundamentally transform human society. We've also clearly recognized that today's robots face enormous limitations in cost, lifespan, and performance. A major reason is that the gear reducer in joint structures, as a mechanical mechanism, inherently suffers from high cost, low reliability, and low durability.

Benmo Technology's focus on direct-drive motors strikes at the heart of this problem and could fundamentally solve an issue that has plagued robotics for decades — enabling robots to be mass-produced and widely applied at low cost, high performance, and large scale, just like consumer electronics. We are filled with respect for such disruptive and crazy ideas, and very much look forward to Benmo Technology propelling the robotics industry into a new era.

From your interactions so far, what about the Benmo Technology team and founder has impressed you most?

Peter: Zhang Di is a gifted, exceptionally capable robotics geek. In conversations with him, you constantly feel his surging creativity and profound insight. Yet unlike most entrepreneurs who follow their interests into various upper-level robot designs, he chose instead to innovate at the most difficult, most foundational level — the motor itself. Behind this lies his fanatical focus on direct-drive motors, and his determination to apply first-principles thinking and commit to the hardest things for the long term.

Founded in Hong Kong in 2018, Benmo Technology has been dedicated to providing gear-reducer-free direct-drive precision motion solutions from day one. According to the company, this motion solution enables motors to deliver smooth torque, stable velocity, and accurate position without external gear reducers — creating a disruptive electromechanical integrated motion paradigm.

In 2019, Benmo Technology relocated to the Songshan Lake Xbot Park robotics industrial base led by professors Li Zexiang, Gao Bingqiang, and Gan Jie. During this period, Benmo Technology leveraged its leading technical solutions to successively establish partnerships with top players in household robotics, industrial/commercial robotics, and fitness industries.

On the product front, in 2020-2021 Benmo Technology completed technical R&D for its M6 and M15 product series, while also launching the Xingtian-Diablo wheeled-leg robot, demonstrating the broad application prospects of direct-drive technology. In production line setup, the company successfully ramped single-line daily capacity from 100 to 3,000 units, obtained ISO quality management system certification, and established an independent IQC quality control center — giving it complete productization capabilities. Benmo Technology has also filed over 30 patent applications to date and will continue investing in R&D.

Currently, Benmo Technology's products primarily serve the household robotics, industrial/commercial robotics, and fitness industries.

In household robotics, Benmo Technology provides direct-drive locomotion wheels and sweeping/mopping function modules for small wheeled robots including vacuum robots, mopping robots, and household service robots. In these applications, the locomotion wheels typically use hub motor designs, while the sweeping/mopping function modules boldly employ flat structural designs. Whether locomotion wheels or sweeping/mopping modules, sensing, drive, and control are all integrated into the product itself.

Compared to traditional solutions, Benmo Technology's unique technical solution offers customers: low operating background noise; higher space utilization; longer battery life and longer lifespan.

In the industrial/commercial robotics sector, Benmo Technology currently provides direct-drive drive wheel modules for AGV/AMR and indoor/outdoor inspection, delivery, and cleaning wheeled robots. The drive wheels feature flange connections for easy installation, integrated sensing-drive-control for rapid integration, and large bearings to ensure lasting reliability.

In the fitness industry, Benmo Technology provides resistance and damping motors for various fitness equipment products. According to the company, this direct-drive motor solution can generate loading forces for fitness use, sufficient to replace 30-120kg gym weight stacks. The motor itself incorporates precise position, velocity, and torque sensors for accurate fitness data tracking; during exercise, the solution can also function as a small generator, providing electrical power for other electronic components in smart fitness devices.

Benmo Technology's innovative solutions are also creating distinctive possibilities for products across more industries. Benmo Technology CEO Zhang Di stated that this funding round will primarily be used for market expansion and technical R&D, while building an automated, flexible production platform to achieve more efficient, agile manufacturing. Going forward, Benmo Technology will pursue its vision of "directly driving the world" and strive to become a leader in motion solutions for robotics and other fields at home and abroad.

Over the coming year, Benmo Technology will continue focusing on providing direct-drive precision motion solutions that can directly replace various gear reducers, recruiting more expert talent, and deeply developing the direct-drive precision motion market.

5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital) currently manages approximately $5 billion in USD and RMB dual-currency funds. We believe that if the crazy you in others' eyes starts being believed, the world becomes a better place.

BEIJING·SHANGHAI·SHENZHEN·HONGKONG