The capital from this round of financing, provided by investor Vision Plus Capital, will be mainly used for R&D of robot products for PV plants, expansion of relevant teams, and global market deployment. And in 2023, Leapting has completed 3 rounds financing.
Originating from the “2022 Nan Taihu Elite Entrepreneurial Leader Talent Project” in Huzhou, Leapting was founded in July 2022. Headquartered in Huzhou, Zhejiang, with an R&D and marketing center in Shanghai, it has become a high-tech firm specializing in the development, design, manufacturing, integration, and servicing of PV plant robots.
Leapting is highly specialized in intelligent automation robots for the photovoltaic energy field. Its founder and CEO Bruce Wang previously served as Chief Technology Officer of Arctech, a leading company in photovoltaic tracking brackets, and has over 15 years of experience in PV plant applications. Its R&D and marketing teams also consist of veterans from the photovoltaic and robotics industries. Since its founding, Leapting's first-generation product, robotic module cleaning robots, has received widespread attention and recognition from peers and experts worldwide. Leveraging robust R&D capabilities, the company will also successively launch installation robots, inspection robots, and newly iterated cleaning robots.
According to data released by the International Energy Agency (IEA), by the end of 2022, the global installed capacity of photovoltaic power stations exceeded 1TW for the first time, reaching 1,183GW. Meanwhile, the global market for photovoltaic power stations maintained an average growth of 24.9%. With such an enormous market size, robots for PV power plants have become a highly promising niche sector.
Through dedicated R&D efforts, Leapting's intelligent photovoltaic robots can now cover more needs beyond just cleaning, including intelligent installation and inspection. In addition, Leapting has established a data communication interconnection network that connects its various products, enabling the formulation of optimal power station whole lifecycle solutions based on intelligent judgment. Relying on its proprietary patented technologies, the company can integrate artificial intelligence, digital twin and other technologies into its products and solutions, constantly delivering reliable, stable, truly unmanned photovoltaic power station robots for its customers.
Bruce Wang, Leapting's founder and CEO, remarked: “With the global push for carbon neutrality, clean energy like solar PV keeps expanding in scale. In this context, there is a distinct need and vast market potential for solar farms that can fully operate unmanned over their entire lifecycle. Solar farms run by robots will gradually become an industry norm. Leapting's core value lies in developing technology that makes solar farms more efficient and less expensive. Building on our R&D and marketing teams' abundant industry experience over the years, Leapting has gained a first-mover edge in the field of solar farm robots. Moving forward, we will continue ramping up R&D spending to stand out from fierce global competition as a world-leading solar robotics innovation firm with extraordinary strength.”
Vision Plus Capital, the investor of this round, stated that: “Over the years, we've invested in tech spheres like smart vehicles, robotics, and industrial digitization. Leveraging China's strengths in technology and industrial chains, Leapting has successfully explored innovative applications and blue ocean incremental markets at the intersection of solar and robotics. Since its founding, the company has earned high recognition from leading domestic and foreign clients, with strong growth momentum. We eagerly anticipate Leapting ushering in the digital and intelligent upgrades of solar farms through a robotic matrix combination, and spearheading solar industry innovations that will change the future.”
As the global photovoltaic energy enters the era of industrial intelligence, Glory Ventures Capital, an old shareholder of Leapting, is also very optimistic about the long-term development of the smart installation and application market of photovoltaic power stations that has been spawned. Bai Zongyi, founding partner of Glory Ventures Capital, said: “Since 2022, through on-site research on the global photovoltaic robot industry chain, we have been fortunate to get acquainted with Leapting and exclusively participated in the company's Pre-A round of financing at the end of 2022. This has allowed us to witness whether Team strength, product research and development, market expansion, and global layout breakthroughs all fully reflect Leapting’s strong professional
foundation and execution capabilities in this industry. Based on this, Glory Ventures Capital will continue to lead the company’s Series A financing in mid-2023. We look forward to Leapting becoming a leader in the global photovoltaic intelligent operation and maintenance market.”
No company can develop advanced, innovative and intelligent products without a top-tier R&D team. In Leapting, over 70% of the staff are R&D techs, including talents with advanced degrees from prestigious domestic and foreign institutes like Tsinghua and Harbin Institute of Technology. They boast extensive experience and expertise in areas like autonomous driving and AI. Leapting's founder has over 15 years of PV power R&D experience and once chaired IEC TC82 WG9. Since its inception, Leapting has invested heavily in technological innovation and R&D. So far, the company has applied for over 121 patents and obtained 8 invention patents, 4 software copyright certificates, and 15 utility model patents. This technological foundation lays a solid basis for the iterative updates and smooth mass production of future robotic products for photovoltaic power stations, as well as the transformation of more distant technological achievements.
As of Q3 2023, Leapting has received tens of millions in orders. Its current products have been widely deployed in overseas markets like South Asia and the Middle East, as well as in domestic projects in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and more. The company has also established local marketing and technical service networks in some key international markets.
According to Leapting personnel, the company has started production lines for various types of PV plant robots. And, thanks to outstanding R&D abilities, supreme execution efficiency, and investment backing, its 6GW top-tier capacity will also launch soon, signaling the full-scale mass production of PV plant robots. This marks a major stride for PV stations towards fully unmanned, intelligent, whole-lifecycle operation. “As our name ‘Leapting' explains, we aim for the firm to lead transformative, leapfrogging advances worldwide,” stated Bruce Wang, Founder and CEO.
