LeiPhone has learned that Liu Liyuan, a former core product lead at DJI and Anker, has started a venture in pet-companion robots and closed an angel round led by Yuanhe. The move takes a seasoned Shenzhen hardware operator into one of consumer robotics’ most emotionally sticky niches.
Liu was a senior gimbal-algorithm engineer at DJI and later joined Anker, where she led eufy’s flagship robot-vacuum and mop line and shipped several innovative products. After the line’s lead departed, she took over the business and ran a team of more than 130 people. In 2025 the smart-innovation business built around eufy booked 8.271 billion yuan in revenue, up 30.53 per cent. She later moved to Anker’s venture arm to head its health unit, reporting directly to founder Yang Meng.
Her career has always circled hardware. Now she is carrying that playbook into pets, trying to reinvent companionship with robotics. Pet companionship was not her first idea: she weighed motion gaming, then health litter boxes, before settling on pet robots. Smart feeders, fountains, cameras and litter boxes are already in homes, and pet spending is migrating from food and supplies toward smart hardware.
Pet hardware differs from consumer electronics. The market is fragmented yet high-frequency and built on long-term attachment, and a team must read animal behaviour and habits, not just ship a gadget. Whether she can transplant the product and team discipline of DJI and Anker into an unfamiliar scene is the open question. The company name and product details are not yet public.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original LeiPhone report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience.