Benmo Power, a Beijing maker of direct-drive motor modules for robots, has passed its Hong Kong main-board hearing under the 18C specialised-technology route with CITIC Securities as sole sponsor, capping a rise from a 2020 startup to a listing candidate in just over six years.
Skipping the reducer
Founder Zhang Di, a student of ‘DJI godfather’ Li Zexiang, made a deliberate call in 2020: abandon the precision reducer long monopolised by Japanese giants and use direct-drive technology, where the motor outputs torque directly. The result is lower noise, longer life and fewer failures. Benmo now holds a 61.1 per cent share of China’s consumer-robot direct-drive module market and shipped 8.5 million units in 2025, the only maker above five million. Revenue climbed from 17.5 million yuan in 2023 to 282 million in 2025, a compound rate above 300 per cent.
The customer concentration problem
That growth rides on a narrow base. Robot-vacuum maker Dreame was Benmo’s third-largest customer in 2023, its largest in 2024 at 62.1 per cent of revenue, and still 42.8 per cent in 2025. The module business sold 8.5 million sets in 2025 at an average of about 29 yuan each, a gross margin of just 21.5 per cent against peers closer to 50 per cent. Net losses totalled more than 1 billion yuan across 2023 to 2025, with the 2025 figure swollen by a redemption-liability fair-value change, and operating cash flow stayed negative for three years.
The Li Zexiang premium
Benmo closed 12 funding rounds to a post-money value of 3.185 billion yuan, about 637 times its first round, with backers including Legend Star, 5Y Capital and state-linked funds. The valuation climb tracks its 18C eligibility, which requires revenue above 250 million yuan, a bar it cleared in 2025. The Li Zexiang ecosystem, which also nurtured DJI, Yunjiang and others, supplied both capital and credibility. The open question is whether a low-margin, customer-concentrated joint maker can escape the shadow of the vacuum-robot cycle that feeds it.
Read the original report (OFweek Robotics)
Translated and adapted from OFweek Robotics (robot.ofweek.com).