Direct Drive Tech

Direct Drive Tech (本末科技) is a Chinese company developing reducer-free direct-drive precision power modules for robots, founded and led by CEO Di Zhang. The name itself is a mission statement: in a 5Y Capital interview, Zhang described the company's single focus as "removing the reducer from mechanical equipment and driving devices directly and precisely with motors" — the "Direct Drive" in its English name . Per 5Y Capital, it raised a tens-of-millions Pre-A round in November 2020 led by 5Y at a valuation in the hundreds of millions of RMB, followed by a nearly RMB 100 million Series A announced in October 2022, co-led by Songhe Capital and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, with existing backers 5Y and MiraclePlus topping up . As of that 2022 announcement, its direct-drive motors counted Ecovacs and Dreame as customers, its wheel-legged robot platforms served SenseTime, MIT, and Berkeley, and it had posted 12 consecutive months of 30% month-over-month revenue growth — alongside unveiling, per a Linear Capital piece, China's first AI wheel-legged robot development platform "Xingtian," co-built with Horizon Robotics .