Unitree IPO surges 629% on debut, beating crypto premarket bets

Crypto perpetuals priced Unitree at $38 billion before Shanghai opened; the stock's first trade cleared at $66 billion.

Unitree Robotics' shares opened 629% above their IPO price on Shanghai's STAR Market on Wednesday, valuing the robot maker at $66 billion — 75% above the $38 billion implied by crypto perpetual futures.

The debut crystallizes China's ambitions to lead the next frontier of AI-powered machines, with the industry edging toward a "ChatGPT moment" for robot brains, Unitree's chief executive said Thursday.

A synthetic Unitree market on Hyperliquid, launched by outside developer xyz.trade, traded around $92 to $94 last week, implying a valuation near $38 billion, according to data provider Allium. The contract raced higher once trading began, reaching about $121 Wednesday morning — up 20 percent over 24 hours — after briefly topping $140, with $64 million in volume and $29 million in open positions.

The listing provides a valuation benchmark for China's humanoid robotics sector and could shape pricing for 30 to 50 peers preparing listings in Hong Kong, according to industry sources cited by Caixin. It also marks the second big test this summer of whether crypto markets can price an IPO before a stock exchange gets the chance.

The IPO priced at 150.8 yuan a share, valuing Unitree at about 61 billion yuan and raising roughly 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million). Backers include AI firm DeepSeek, which contributed about 140.8 million yuan during the offering, and Tencent, an existing shareholder.

Unitree, a Hangzhou company that makes humanoid and four-legged robots, is profitable — a rarity among robotics peers. Revenue rose to 1.70 billion yuan in 2025 from 392.77 million yuan a year earlier, with net profit of 278.21 million yuan. The company shipped more than 5,000 humanoid units last year, selling its G1 model at about $13,500 and robot dogs from $2,700, undercutting Boston Dynamics' Spot at roughly $70,000. Overseas markets accounted for about 44 percent of main business revenue.

Shares pulled back from the 1,100 yuan opening and were recently around 884 yuan, still nearly six times the IPO price.

Crypto price discovery faces its second test

The Unitree listing contrasts with SpaceX's June debut, where crypto perpetuals closely matched the stock's first-day trading range. The night before SpaceX listed, perps priced the stock at roughly $170 a share; it traded above $176 in its first session and closed at $161, almost exactly where crypto traders had expected first-day demand to land.

The SpaceX market was far larger, with open interest reaching about $216 million immediately before the IPO and more than $150 million changing hands over 24 hours. Unitree's roughly $29 million of open positions gives a much smaller pool of capital a role in setting the pre-IPO price, and the contract itself warns traders about low liquidity, high volatility and increased liquidation risk. It allows leverage of as much as 10 times, meaning relatively small price moves can force traders out of positions.

That risk was visible after the listing. Funding on the Unitree contract was around negative 0.13 percent — traders betting on a decline were paying those positioned for further gains to keep trades open.

A benchmark for a sector racing to scale

The debut sets a commercial benchmark for a sector racing to scale, as Chinese and U.S. players — including Tesla's Optimus and Boston Dynamics — compete on cost and factory-floor adoption. Unitree faces regulatory headwinds: the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in late July placed foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots on its Covered List over national security concerns, a risk for a maker that draws 44 percent of core revenue from overseas.

SpaceX showed a crypto perp could land remarkably close to an IPO's first-day price. Unitree showed the other side of the experiment, where crypto traders correctly spotted an IPO that looked far too cheap, then watched the public market clear at a price even their leveraged bets had not reached.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.