MileBot Robotics Secures Strategic Investment from Weigao Group to Jointly Advance Orthopedic Robotics

Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “MileBot”) has recently secured an exclusive strategic investment of tens of millions of yuan from Shangyuan Fund, a subsidiary of Weigao Group. Leveraging this opportunity and relying on Weigao Group’s robust resources and sales network, MileBot will further expand its market presence in medical rehabilitation robotics.

In addition, Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. (“MileBot”) will establish a joint venture with Shandong Weigao Orthopedic Materials Co., Ltd. (“Weigao Orthopedics,” SH688161) to jointly enter the market for intelligent equipment for the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of orthopedic conditions, including intelligent orthopedic therapeutic devices, orthopedic rehabilitation robots, and orthopedic rehabilitation assessment systems. Leveraging Weigao Orthopedics’ extensive experience in the orthopedic market and MileBot’s leading R&D capabilities in medical rehabilitation robotics, the joint venture will build an integrated system of intelligent orthopedic surgical and rehabilitation products and services. This system will achieve a full closed-loop covering preoperative planning, intraoperative diagnosis and treatment, postoperative assessment, early in-hospital orthopedic rehabilitation, out-of-hospital rehabilitation, and daily home-based assistance, thereby comprehensively enhancing the intelligence level of orthopedic diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitative devices. We believe that Weigao’s entry into this field will have a significant and far-reaching impact on the entire rehabilitation industry.

Founded in 1988, Weigao is currently dedicated to developing its core businesses in medical devices and pharmaceuticals, while also expanding into construction, finance, and other industries. The company owns more than 80 subsidiaries, including three publicly listed companies, and employs over 30,000 people. Weigao Group comprises 12 industrial divisions, including medical products, blood purification, orthopedics, and medical robotics. It has become a global manufacturer of comprehensive, reliable, and trustworthy medical system solutions with a complete product portfolio.

Weigao Orthopedics was established in 2005, with its core business focusing on the research and development, manufacturing, and sales of orthopedic medical devices. Its main products include orthopedic implantable medical devices and orthopedic surgical instruments and tools. In the field of orthopedic implantable medical devices, the company is one of the leading enterprises in China with a comprehensive product portfolio, large scale, and strong market competitiveness, ranking first in market share among domestic orthopedic manufacturers. Weigao Orthopedics was officially listed on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June 2021, with the stock code 688161. Over the years, Weigao Orthopedics has consistently adhered to independent R&D-driven innovation to continuously update and iterate its products. Currently, the company and its subsidiaries hold 200 Class I product filing certificates, 10 registration certificates for Class II medical devices, and 81 registration certificates for Class III medical devices, comprehensively covering major sub-segments of orthopedic implantable medical devices, including spine, trauma, joints, and sports medicine. The company’s diverse product portfolio has been widely applied in the treatment of orthopedic diseases in more than 1,500 hospitals across China, effectively meeting diverse clinical needs, making it one of the orthopedic implantable medical device manufacturers with the most complete product lines in China.

Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. was established in 2016 as a technology-driven enterprise founded by overseas-educated PhDs. The team has been dedicated to the research and development of rehabilitation robots, centering on its core technology—robotic interaction technology based on flexible actuators. The two co-founders, Chen Gong and Ye Jing, possess profound technical expertise in the field of rehabilitation robotics. They lead the team in adhering to independent innovation, demonstrating strong R&D capabilities, innovative concepts, and forward-looking international thinking.

In light of the growing demand for orthopedic diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation in China, coupled with the relatively lagging development of postoperative orthopedic care, Weigao Orthopedics has formed a strategic partnership with MileBot to accelerate the integration of orthopedic rehabilitation and jointly develop intelligent solutions for orthopedic diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Driven by an aging population and improved healthcare access for urban and rural residents, China’s orthopedic market has seen robust demand, with the number of patients receiving diagnosis and treatment increasing year by year. From 2012 to 2019, the number of orthopedic patient visits in China exhibited a fluctuating upward trend, reaching 16.6944 million in 2019, a 6.39% increase from 2018. Based on the per-patient cost and total revenue of orthopedic hospitals in China, along with the growth trend in patient visits, Qianzhan Industry Research Institute estimated that the number of orthopedic patient visits in China amounted to approximately 17.0283 million in 2020.

From the perspective of the age structure of patients with orthopedic diseases, these patients are predominantly concentrated in the population aged 45 and above. In particular, more than 75% of patients suffering from joint, spinal, intervertebral disc, and bone structural disorders are aged 45 or older. As population aging intensifies, it will, to a certain extent, drive the growth of the orthopedics market.

Despite a significant increase in demand for orthopedic services, the number of orthopedic hospitals has seen only a slight rise, indicating sluggish growth in industry supply. This imbalance between supply and demand has led to a year-on-year increase in residents’ out-of-pocket expenses for treating orthopedic conditions. While pharmaceutical costs for orthopedics show a downward trend, expenditures on diagnostics, treatment, and surgical procedures are on the rise.

The entire process of orthopedic diagnosis and treatment has not yet been fully integrated, with fragmentation existing among preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative rehabilitation stages, resulting in a lack of systematic services covering the patient’s full lifecycle. Furthermore, innovation in orthopedic devices remains sluggish. Establishing a new ecosystem for orthopedic care and truly achieving patient-centricity have become urgent issues that need to be addressed in the development of orthopedics.

Currently, there is a significant imbalance between the development of orthopedic treatment and orthopedic rehabilitation in China. While orthopedic treatment technologies are advancing rapidly, with surgical capabilities comparable to international standards, there remains a substantial gap in patient outcomes compared to those abroad. Many experts and scholars have recognized that a primary reason for this disparity is the inadequate implementation of orthopedic rehabilitation. In particular, postoperative orthopedic rehabilitation has not been widely or deeply integrated into clinical practice, lagging considerably behind the advancement of clinical orthopedics. Furthermore, domestic rehabilitation institutions are few in number and small in scale. The ratio of rehabilitation physicians stands at only 1.7 per 100,000 people, a figure that lags far behind that of developed countries. Rehabilitation services remain largely confined to traditional, basic rehabilitation practices.

Orthopedic surgery merely repairs the tissues, leaving 70% of functional recovery yet to be achieved. Home-based rest typically restores function to only about 40%, often resulting in numerous complications and residual functional deficits. Therefore, professional and systematic exercise rehabilitation after surgery is essential. Compared with traditional manually assisted rehabilitation training, equipment-assisted training features high intelligence, precision, and consistency, thereby better facilitating patients’ functional recovery and attracting extensive attention from scholars.

MileBot has developed multiple exoskeleton robots for conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury, and Parkinson’s disease, all of which have obtained Class II medical device certification. With profound technical expertise in the research and development of orthopedic rehabilitation products, and addressing the needs of orthopedic diagnosis, treatment, and postoperative rehabilitation, MileBot will focus on developing intelligent digital rehabilitation equipment targeted at orthopedic joints. The company aims to build an intelligent monitoring and evaluation system for postoperative orthopedic rehabilitation based on devices and a big data platform, generate intelligent rehabilitation intervention plans leveraging robotics and artificial intelligence, and provide daily exercise management and chronic disease management solutions. By establishing a full-process service system for intelligent orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation products, MileBot seeks to ensure the safety of postoperative rehabilitation, improve patient experience, accelerate recovery, enhance satisfaction, and fully realize its social value.

As a company specializing in rehabilitation robots and human-computer interaction technologies, Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. needs to achieve sustainable development with an international perspective. In close collaboration with Weigao Orthopaedics, MileBot will respond rapidly to demands and build an efficiently operating supply chain system. By anticipating and understanding ever-changing market needs and gaining clearer insights into the demand for different products, the company aims to deploy production precisely and flexibly, thereby enhancing production capacity and ensuring the efficient operation of its supply chain.

Liang Ying, Managing Director of Lenovo Capital and Incubation Groupstated that they are highly optimistic about the field of exoskeleton robotics. In 2016, they invested in and incubated Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd., helping bring Iron Man—once a figure confined to science fiction—gradually into everyday life.

Lenovo Ventures is highly optimistic about MileBot’s independently developed, globally leading flexible actuators, which enable precise and stable human-robot interaction control, significantly enhancing the safety and comfort of robots. MileBot has developed a series of rehabilitation and assistive robotic products that are widely applicable in medical rehabilitation training scenarios.

According to statistics, the population in China requiring rehabilitation medical services is as high as 100 million, while the supply of rehabilitation services remains severely insufficient. The rehabilitation industry is poised for rapid growth in the near future, potentially reaching a scale of hundreds of billions of yuan. In particular, as the government promotes the decentralization of rehabilitation networks and the integration of elderly care with medical services (“care-medical combination”), rehabilitation services will expand beyond the traditional focus on “three types of paralysis and amputation” to cover a broader range of patients with chronic diseases and elderly individuals with limited functional mobility. MileBot’s solutions can significantly address the supply-demand imbalance in the health and elderly care sector, substantially improve the efficiency of rehabilitation training, and greatly enhance patients’ quality of life.

Chen Gong and Ye Jing have accumulated over a decade of R&D experience in the field of rehabilitation and are actively collaborating with hospitals and universities on clinical research.

Lenovo has engaged in discussions with Weigao Group, believing that by leveraging Weigao’s focus, expertise, industrial accumulation, and nationwide channel network in the healthcare sector, the strategic partnership will enable Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co., Ltd. to accelerate its development and serve patients more effectively and efficiently.

Head of Shangyuan CapitalMileBot Robotics has mastered core algorithms and components, adopting innovative flexible drive modules to deliver a superior human-machine interaction experience and better rehabilitation outcomes for patients. Following this round of financing, the company will focus on integrating its robotic solutions with industrial channels to enhance product competitiveness and customer stickiness, thereby supporting the further development of MileBot Medical.Shangyuan CapitalThis venture capital fund, jointly established by investors including Shandong State-owned Capital Investment Company, Shandong New Kinetic Energy Conversion Fund, and Weigao Group, focuses on investing in innovative enterprises in the medical device sector. The team is committed to integrating resources from government, industry, and finance to support entrepreneurial innovation and industrial upgrading.

Shenzhen MileBot Robotics Co.,Ltd. Investor: Sihuan Pharmaceutical“Congratulations to MileBot on completing this round of strategic financing. As strategic investors, both Sihuan and Weigao are optimistic about the future application of MileBot’s exoskeleton robots in stroke rehabilitation. We believe that Weigao’s participation will also enrich MileBot’s product portfolio in the field of orthopedic robots. Both parties will continue to support MileBot’s development in their respective areas of expertise!”

Chen Gong, CEO of MileBot RoboticsIt was stated that MileBot Robotics had previously completed four rounds of financing totaling over RMB 100 million, with investors including Lenovo and Fenxiang Capital. Leveraging its strategic partnership with Weigao Orthopaedics and capital support, MileBot Robotics will rely on its in-house R&D capabilities to work closely with Weigao Orthopaedics. The company aims to fully promote the integration of its rehabilitation robots with industrial channels, provide comprehensive in-hospital and out-of-hospital rehabilitation solutions for postoperative patients, accelerate product commercialization, and establish a presence in the orthopedic rehabilitation market.