Robotic hand maker Linkerbot is said to consider Hong Kong IPO

[BEIJING] Linkerbot, a Chinese startup that specialises in making highly dexterous robotic hands, is considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Beijing-based company has hired China Merchants Bank International, Citic Securities and HSBC Holdings to work on a share sale that may take place as soon as this year, the people said, noting that deliberations are ongoing and no final decision has been made. If it goes ahead, a listing could raise a few hundred million dollars, some of the people added.

Linkerbot and CMBI didn’t respond to requests for comment. Citic and HSBC declined to comment.

Linkerbot’s Linker Hand products can do tasks ranging from threading a needle to lifting heavy industrial loads, the company said in a statement following CES 2026 in Las Vegas in January.

Linkerbot says it has a more than 80 per cent share of the global high-degrees-of-freedom dexterous robotic hand market. 

Elon Musk, who is seeking to turn Tesla’s Optimus into a robot for the masses, has said that the hand is one of the most difficult parts of making a humanoid robot.

China is pushing to increase the use of humanoid robots, with Shanghai alone aiming for 100,000 to be deployed in manufacturing by 2030. 

Linkerbot said in February it completed a 1.5 billion yuan (S$282 million) Series B fundraising round from backers including DaoDe Investment, Shengshi Capital, Wise Road Capital and Singapore’s Eastern Epic Capitals.

Hong Kong’s IPO market is one of the world’s busiest, with more than US$20 billion already raised in the city this year.

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For the full year, proceeds are likely to exceed US$43 billion, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sharnie Wong wrote last week, noting that the number of applicants had risen to 490 as of Apr 30 versus 339 at the start of the year. 

Robotics is a popular theme too, with the likes of Beijing-based Galbot and Shanghai-based AgiBot preparing for Hong Kong listings.

Industrial robot maker Robotphoenix Intelligent Technology soared almost 100 per cent on its trading debut on Monday (May 18). The retail portion of its share sale was 14,800 oversubscribed. BLOOMBERG