Sklid AI Raises Approximately $9.8 Billion in Series C; 1X Unveils World Model Progress; ZhiJi Dynamics Releases Embodied AI Agent System | Weekly Tech Roundup
1. Sklid AI completes approximately 9.8 billion yuan Series C financing round
On January 15, embodied AI company Skild AI announced the completion of a C-round financing of approximately $1.4 billion (roughly 9.8 billion RMB), raising its valuation to over $14 billion (roughly 98 billion RMB).
This round was led by SoftBank, with participation from NVIDIA, Macquarie, 1789 Capital, and Bezos Expeditions (the family office of Jeff Bezos). Companies such as Samsung, LG, and Salesforce also participated. The funds will be used for large-scale data expansion, deepening basic research, and accelerating real-world deployments that generate economic value.
Skild AI was founded in May 2023, dedicated to building a 'robotic brain' compatible with multiple morphologies.
The core product developed by Skild AI, Skild Brain, can adapt to various robot forms, including robotic arms, quadruped robots, and humanoid robots, enabling applications in scenarios such as homes and warehouses.
2. 1X Announces New Progress on World Models
January 13, Embodied AI company 1X officially released 1XWM, a generative world model pretrained on internet videos. Its core objective is to enable robots to develop their own understanding of the world and continuously learn and act upon this foundation, thereby advancing the large-scale deployment of the NEO robot.
In terms of its logical paradigm, 1XWM enables robots to no longer react directly to reality; instead, they first construct an internally predictable replica of the world.
Under this logic, when facing commands or environmental changes, robots first perceive the current state of the world through multimodal inputs such as vision and language. They then simulate potential future changes within their internal world model, evaluate the consequences of different action paths in imaginary space, and finally map the optimal actions back to the real world for execution.
In practical testing, 1X demonstrated the generalization capabilities of 1XWM, showing that it can handle unseen tasks, such as grasping unfamiliar objects.
3. JiLi Power Releases Embodied AI Agent System
January 12, JiLi Power officially released the embodied AI agent system COSA (Cognitive OS of Agents). COSA is an embodied Agentic OS natively designed for the physical world. By deeply integrating high-level cognition with whole-body motion control, it enables the full-size humanoid robot Oli to achieve integrated coordination between its "brain" and "body," allowing it to think while acting.
The release video shows that Oli, the robot equipped with COSA, can autonomously recognize company colleagues, actively monitor their status, and synchronize updates on company items.
When executing a long-thread task such as "fetching water," Oli first uses memory recall to confirm the identity of the person who issued the task. It then performs reasoning and decision-making to analyze the task's executability. After responding via language, it proceeds with task planning. During mobile navigation, Oli avoids obstacles along the route to reach its destination.
If a new task, such as "delivering a package," arises while Oli is performing the "fetching water" task, it evaluates the new task before replanning. With the help of COSA, Oli assesses task priorities, deciding to complete "fetching water" first, followed by "delivering the package."
Overall, the Embodied AI agent system COSA enhances Oli's capabilities in decision-making and execution, improving the practical applicability of the robot.
4. "Qingtianzu" Completes Seed Funding Round
On January 15, the robot leasing platform "Qingtianzu" (Qingtianzu (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.) announced that it has recently completed its seed funding round.
This round was led by HHLV, with participation from Fosun Capital, Mu Hua Sci-Tech Innovation, Dafeng Fund, and an embodied AI company under the Zhangjiang Group. The funds will primarily be used for national market expansion, building up platform technology and service systems, and deepening collaboration with local governments and industrial ecosystems to further consolidate its pioneering and leading position in the Robotics-as-a-Service sector.
The "Qingtianzu" platform was officially launched in Shanghai on December 22, 2025, jointly initiated by Embodied AI companies including Zhiyuan Robotics and Feikuo Technology.
According to reports, within three weeks of its launch, the platform's registered user count exceeded 200,000, with daily rental orders stabilizing at over 200.