Gasgoo Munich-Westlake Robotics has closed a nearly 100 million yuan Series A round, according to Gasgoo Embodied Intelligence. Led by Haiyuan Capital, the funding will target the development of a unified whole-body large model for humanoid robots. The company also plans to build a talent base for embodied intelligence, aiming to accelerate the arrival of a "GPT moment" for the field.
That brings the total raised to 500 million yuan across four funding rounds in just six months.
Launched in 2024 and headquartered in Hangzhou, Westlake Robotics is the first commercialization project stemming from Westlake University’s independent research in artificial intelligence and robotics.
Westlake Robotics centers its operations on a "general brain." Built on a full-stack, proprietary roadmap combining a general brain, a humanoid whole-body "cerebellum," and a self-developed body, the company has mastered two core technologies: the GAE general motion large model and a dual pre-training architecture for general large and small brains.
Image Source: Westlake Robotics
The GAE model boasts three core advantages: millisecond-level low-latency teleoperation, programming-free action generalization, and cross-body compatibility. It allows robots to replicate human movements in real-time without pre-programmed scripts. Using a single motion-capture device, an operator can remotely synchronize and control a swarm of robots, enabling a "one-to-many" teleoperation control mode.
Notably, beyond fitting Westlake Robotics’s own hardware, GAE can be licensed as a standardized motion control foundation. It is compatible with most humanoid robots on the market, offering significant potential for scalable commercial application.
The dual pre-training architecture merges Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models with world models to create a hierarchical, collaborative intelligence system.
Image Source: Westlake Robotics
Building on these core models, Westlake Robotics launched its full-stack, in-house humanoid robot, the Westlake o1, in early 2026. This move completed a closed technological loop spanning underlying algorithms, pre-trained large models, and humanoid hardware. The company has also signed a strategic partnership with the People’s Government of Longyou to build a county-wide, real-world training base. By deploying the Westlake o1 in actual production and living environments, the initiative aims to collect high-quality whole-body motion data that is currently scarce in the industry.
Westlake Robotics has also forged deep partnerships with Alibaba, Intel, JD.com, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to continuously build its dataset of high-quality humanoid motion data. To date, the company has secured nearly 100 million yuan in orders, covering scenarios such as scientific research, education, data collection, and power line inspections.
Looking ahead, Westlake Robotics plans to provide complete solutions for high-risk scenarios—such as hazardous industrial inspections, post-disaster rescue, and remote precision assembly—where human presence is difficult or dangerous. By extending human capabilities and replacing manual labor in these environments, the company aims to refine the "data collection-model training-real-world verification" loop. This strategy is designed to foster an open, collaborative ecosystem for embodied intelligence and drive the large-scale, standardized commercial deployment of humanoid robots.
About "Seeds Discovery":
Gasgoo's "Seeds Discovery" column is designed to serve as a platform connecting startups, industry ecosystem partners, investors, and local governments, providing deep empowerment across the automotive supply chain. Since its inception, the column has sought to identify exemplary companies, technologies, and business models that offer inspiration and leadership during the wave of intelligent transformation, thereby fostering the growth of innovative forces in the automotive sector. According to Gasgoo statistics, nearly all startups featured in "Seeds Discovery" have successfully connected with resources across the industry ecosystem.
