Qiming Venture Partners Portfolio Companies WeRide and Cornerstone Robotics Named to Wealth China's Best Design List 2025
*Wealth* (Chinese edition) has compiled its annual *Wealth* China Best Design list for four consecutive years. This year's selected projects collectively present a profound dialogue between technology and humanity, highlighting the core value of human designers in the AI era — deep empathy and insight, defining complex problems, and imbuing technology with warmth and meaning.
Recently, the 2025 Fortune China Best Design list was officially unveiled. Fortune (Chinese edition) has compiled this list for four consecutive years. This year's selected projects collectively present a deep dialogue between technology and humanity, highlighting the core value of human designers in the AI era — deep empathy and insight, defining complex problems, and endowing technology with warmth and meaning.
Qiming Venture Partners portfolio companies WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD) and its Robotaxi GXR, and Cornerstone Robotics and its Siteng Laparoscopic Surgical Robot were both named to the list.
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WeRide
Robotaxi GXR
Selection rationale: The world's first Robotaxi model to launch large-scale commercial operations in both China and the United Arab Emirates. It pioneered the removal of the front passenger seat, freeing up more front-row space for passengers, and features a hidden B-pillar design to facilitate easier entry, exit, and luggage loading. Its safety redundancy design ensures operational security, achieving 360-degree blind-spot-free perception that already covers extreme scenarios including low-light and high-dynamic conditions, with production costs reduced to one-quarter of the previous generation.
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Cornerstone Robotics
Siteng Laparoscopic Surgical Robot
Selection rationale: This minimally invasive abdominal surgical robot integrates cutting-edge technologies across clinical medicine, mechanical structure, software algorithms, visual imaging, and human-machine interaction. With precise control and stable operation, it assists surgeons in performing complex, delicate minimally invasive procedures. The Siteng Laparoscopic Surgical Robot benchmarks against DaVinci, the global pioneer in surgical robotics, while leveraging China's supply chain advantages to reduce costs. It has achieved 99% localization of components, securing a leading position in China's surgical robotics field.
Compared to twelve months ago, AI has moved out of server rooms at scale, materializing into countless concrete applications that are reshaping home life, work patterns, and travel experiences. At this pivotal moment of dialogue between technology and humanity, the importance of design is becoming increasingly prominent. The defining question designers must answer is: How can we continually reshape the interface between humans and technology, making technology more attuned to human needs?
Fortune (Chinese edition) observes that AI is becoming designers' "super external brain," but the ability to generate massive numbers of solutions cannot replace human value judgment — rather, it pushes that judgment to an even more central position. The designer's role is shifting from creator of form to anchor of values.
Source | fortunechina.com
Past Coverage
Qiming Stars | Three Qiming Venture Partners Portfolio Companies Named to 2022 Fortune China Best Design List Qiming Stars | WeRide Unveils New Mass-Produced Robotaxi GXR | Bilingual Qiming Stars | Cornerstone Robotics' Guowei Ou: Committed to Full-Stack Self-Development, Aiming to Transform the Global Surgical Robotics Landscape
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners currently manages 11 USD funds and 7 RMB funds, with total assets under management reaching $9.5 billion. Since its inception, the firm has focused on investing in outstanding early and growth-stage companies in Technology and Healthcare.
To date, Qiming Venture Partners has invested in over 580 high-growth innovative companies, of which more than 210 have gone public on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or exited through mergers and acquisitions. Over 80 portfolio companies have become recognized unicorns or super-unicorns.
Many Qiming Venture Partners portfolio companies have grown into the most influential players in their respective fields, including Xiaomi (01810.HK), Meituan (03690.HK), Bilibili (NASDAQ: BILI, 09626.HK), Zhihu (NYSE: ZH, 02390.HK), Roborock (688169.SH), UBTECH (09880.HK), WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD), HyperStrong (688411.SH), Insta360 (688775.SH), Unisound (09678.HK), Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals (603087.SH), Tigermed (300347.SZ, 03347.HK), Zai Lab (NASDAQ: ZLAB, 09688.HK), CanSino Biologics (688185.SH, 06185.HK), Schrödinger (NASDAQ: SDGR), MicroPort EP MedTech (688617.SH), Sanyou Medical (688085.SH), Amoy Diagnostics (300685.SZ), Berry Genomics (000710.SZ), SinocellTech (688520.SH), Yuanxin Technology, Insilico Medicine, MediLink Therapeutics, LaNova Medicines, Zhipu AI, StepFun, Biren Technology, and others.