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pvtIQ

pvtIQ leverages Smartkarma’s technology and distribution to deliver high-quality research and data on Asian private markets.

Private Markets Analyst, pvtIQ

Beier Luo

Private Markets Analyst

Private Capital Markets

<h2>Executive Summary</h2><ul><li><strong>From Dexterous Hands to Commercial Robots:</strong> Sharpa is an embodied AI company that has taken its tactile robotic hand from launch to mass production in under a year. The hand is now used by leading research teams, including Google DeepMind and NVIDIA. It is building on this with full robots running on its own AI model, CraftNet, led by a live deployment at a Dairy Queen store in Shanghai and pilot projects in Singapore covering logistics and port operations.</li><li><strong>Proven Founders and Deep Strategic Capital:</strong> The company was founded by the three co-founders of Hesai Technology, who built the world's leading automotive lidar business and took it from a costly niche product to mass production. Sharpa has raised more than US$667.5m to date, and its disclosed investors include Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, JD.com and Sequoia China. This gives it a long runway to scale manufacturing and defend its lead in tactile sensing.</li><li><strong>Valuation Ahead of Fundamentals: </strong>Revenue is undisclosed, and we estimate 2026 sales at about US$43.6 million, implying roughly 76 times our 2026 sales estimate at the announced valuation, with most robot deployments still at pilot stage. Our fair value of about US$2.3b sits below the US$3.3b announced in August 2026. We attribute the gap to a premium for the founders' track record and strong market enthusiasm for AI robotics, both of which leave investors exposed if commercial scaling is slower than expected.</li></ul>

Executive SummaryFrom Dexterous Hands to Commercial Robots: Sharpa is an embodied AI company that has taken its tactile robotic hand from launch to mass production in under a year. The hand is now used by leading research teams, including Google DeepMind and NVIDIA. It is building on this with full robots running on its own AI model, CraftNet, led by a live deployment at a Dairy Queen store in Shanghai and pilot projects in Singapore covering logistics and port operations.Proven Founders and Deep Strategic Capital: The company was founded by the three co-founders of Hesai Technology, who built the world's leading automotive lidar business and took it from a costly niche product to mass production. Sharpa has raised more than US$667.5m to date, and its disclosed investors include Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, JD.com and Sequoia China. This gives it a long runway to scale manufacturing and defend its lead in tactile sensing.Valuation Ahead of Fundamentals: Revenue is undisclosed, and we estimate 2026 sales at about US$43.6 million, implying roughly 76 times our 2026 sales estimate at the announced valuation, with most robot deployments still at pilot stage. Our fair value of about US$2.3b sits below the US$3.3b announced in August 2026. We attribute the gap to a premium for the founders' track record and strong market enthusiasm for AI robotics, both of which leave investors exposed if commercial scaling is slower than expected.

Sharpa: Scaling Tactile Hardware and CraftNet into Full-Stack Robotics (Initiation)