Warm congratulations to Roborock on its successful listing on the STAR Market! | Gaorong Ventures News
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On February 21, Roborock officially began trading on the STAR Market, with stock code "688169." The company issued 16,666,667 shares at 271.12 yuan per share, raising 4.519 billion yuan in total. At the opening bell, Roborock's shares hit 470.00 yuan, up more than 73% from the IPO price. By 9:50 a.m., the company's market cap had exceeded 30 billion yuan.
Gaorong Ventures led Roborock's Series B round in early 2016. "Over the past five and a half years, Roborock has created technology products with exceptional user experiences through continuous innovation and product execution, establishing itself as a leader in China's smart robot vacuum market," said Yue Bin, founding partner of Gaorong Ventures. "We warmly congratulate Roborock on its successful STAR Market listing!"
Building Momentum Behind Owned Brands, Driving Steady Revenue Growth
Roborock is a smart home appliance R&D and manufacturer specializing in the design, development, production, and sales of intelligent cleaning robots and other smart hardware. It is a global pioneer in the large-scale application of LiDAR technology and related algorithms to smart robot vacuums. The company's main products are smart robot vacuums and related accessories, including the Mi Robot Vacuum (a Xiaomi co-branded product launched in September 2016), the Roborock S5 (its first owned-brand product, launched in September 2017), and the Xiaowa E2 series (launched in March 2018).
Since launching its products, Roborock has quickly captured market share through product quality and word-of-mouth. Public records show that the company began pushing its owned brands in 2017 with strong results. From 2017 to the first half of 2019, Roborock-branded product sales reached 108 million yuan, 1.478 billion yuan, and 1.171 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 9.63%, 48.50%, and 55.08% of total revenue. As owned-brand products grew as a share of revenue, overall gross margins improved significantly. Roborock-branded gross margins were 44.87%, 42.06%, and 46.18% during the same periods; driven by the owned-brand business, the company's overall gross margin rose from 19.21% in 2016 to 32.50% in the first half of 2019. From 2016 through the first three quarters of 2019, Roborock's revenue was 183.127 million yuan, 1.1188176 billion yuan, 3.0512504 billion yuan, and 3.0299925 billion yuan — maintaining rapid growth. Through strong product execution, the company established both online and offline channels and secured its market position within just two years.
According to a 2019 industry research report by Everbright Securities, in the first 43 weeks of 2018, the Mi Robot Vacuum and Roborock S5 held 12.8% and 10.1% of online market share respectively, combining for 22.9%. CMM data showed that in the first half of 2019, Roborock ranked second in both online and offline market share domestically, at 23% and 26% respectively.
Innovation as the Foundation for Sustainable Growth
Strong market share performance rests on solid technical capabilities. Roborock employs the industry's leading LDS LiDAR + SLAM algorithm-based global navigation solution, applying core technologies from autonomous driving and artificial intelligence to its products.
The company has built technical expertise across positioning and navigation algorithms, laser modules, cleaning structures, battery modules, mopping systems, auto-recharge modules, and more — continuously optimizing and upgrading its smart robot vacuum products.
Roborock has consistently prioritized technological innovation as its core development goal, steadily increasing R&D investment. From 2016 to 2018, the company's R&D expenses were 39.3593 million yuan, 106.2772 million yuan, and 116.6156 million yuan respectively, showing an upward trend. The IPO prospectus revealed plans to launch new product lines including handheld vacuums, with continued R&D investment to expand application scenarios for smart robot vacuums, developing 3D perception扫拖 robots, intelligent interactive扫拖 robots, commercial cleaning robots, and other multi-category products, while using IoT and cloud platform technologies to enhance product intelligence.
Listing on the STAR Market, Embarking on a New Journey
Data indicates broad market prospects for smart robot vacuums.
As urbanization advances and consumption upgrades, small cleaning appliances like vacuum cleaners are gradually gaining penetration in Chinese households. In terms of product form factors, domestic consumers prefer convenient, compact products, making robot vacuums the fastest-growing vacuum cleaner category. Euromonitor expects the compound annual growth rate for vacuum cleaners to remain above 7% from 2018-2023, with robot vacuums growing at over 10%.
A 2019 Everbright Securities industry research report showed that under neutral assumptions, global robot vacuum retail sales (excluding China) could reach approximately $8 billion (around 50 billion yuan). The markets with the most significant growth potential will be developed countries with high vacuum cleaner ownership rates, alongside China, where large population and rapidly increasing penetration rates could drive retail market size to 500-1,000 billion yuan, with both domestic and overseas markets in a simultaneous expansion phase.
According to the prospectus, Roborock will deploy IPO proceeds around its core business, including next-generation robot vacuum projects, commercial cleaning robot product development, the Roborock intelligent connected data platform, and working capital supplementation.
Roborock Chairman and CEO Chang Jing said during the roadshow, "This STAR Market listing is an important milestone in Roborock's development. Seizing this opportunity, we will continue executing our established strategic plan, focusing on foundational research for smart robot vacuums, expanding our R&D talent base, continuously iterating on existing technologies, broadening and extending our industrial chain, and strengthening our leading position in China's smart robot vacuum market. We will also build out our global distribution network, further expand overseas markets, and strive to become a highly competitive technology company both internationally and domestically."
Reflecting on Gaorong's journey with Roborock, Yue Bin said: "Roborock has assembled an exceptional team with deep expertise in electronics, optics, mechanics, and other fields. With a commitment to building products of the highest quality, the team refined every aspect of R&D, spending over two years perfecting their first product. The company independently developed LiDAR and navigation algorithms, established a professional optical laboratory, and successfully created blockbuster products with outstanding user reviews, becoming an industry leader. Going forward, we believe Roborock will continue bringing more imaginative products to market, using technology to make people's lives better!"
