Noah Medical Logistics Robot Secures RMB 120 Million in Series B Funding, Paving the Way for Autonomous Driving in Hospital Settings

Recently, as NIO’s valuation surpassed $93 billion and Evergrande Auto’s valuation exceeded HK$390 billion, the intelligent driving sector has once again seen financing activity in the hospital vertical—Noah Hospital Logistics Robots announced a Series B funding round of RMB 120 million, marking one of the largest financings in this niche sector.

Amid the global spread of the pandemic, demand for unmanned intelligent logistics in hospital settings has surged. In recent years, China has vigorously promoted the application and deployment of technologies such as 5G, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, and the Intelligent Internet of Things (AIoT), thereby increasingly maturing the technological foundations for intelligent driving and smart logistics. The national government has advanced multi-dimensional initiatives to enhance hospital operational management, reduce logistics energy consumption and cost proportions, minimize medical supply wastage, and mitigate losses caused by errors in medical material handling. These efforts have created an urgent need for intelligent logistics solutions, accelerating the evolution of hospital logistics into the era of intelligence. Hospital-wide robotic logistics systems have been successfully implemented in numerous medical institutions. Consequently, hospitals have become one of the earliest mature application scenarios for autonomous driving technology.

Hospital logistics is one of the core processes in hospital management and a key link to improving operational efficiency and implementing refined management. It is characterized by high transportation demand, a wide variety of materials, stringent safety requirements, strict time constraints, rigorous infection prevention and control, and the need for traceability in material management.

Compared with manual transport or traditional industrial equipment transport, hospital logistics robots offer six major advantages: full-process digital traceability, flexible capacity allocation for integrated routine and epidemic response, unmanned operation to prevent cross-infection within the hospital, low energy consumption and small footprint for cost reduction, high payload capacity and high utilization rate, and low failure rate with high reliability. Hospital logistics robots are a prominent representative of hospitals advancing into the era of intelligence.

In the field of hospital logistics robots, the key competitive factors are technological maturity, full-scenario deployment capability, and after-sales service and upgrade support. The core team behind Noah Hospital Logistics Robots comes from Huawei’s smartphone division. With over 350 core patents, it has been selected by Huawei as a 5G strategic partner. It serves as the primary drafter of national robotics standards, and its products have been recommended by the National Artificial Intelligence Standardization Group for epidemic prevention and control. The company has launched 17 models, defined 21 hospital logistics scenarios, and pioneered the deployment capability to meet 95% of hospital logistics needs. Notably, Noah’s manufacturing facility is the only one in the industry to have passed CR Certification (China Robot Certification), marking a breakthrough in the stability of its mass-produced products.

As of January 2021, Mrobot has been deployed in over 100 hospitals, maintaining an industry-leading position. This round of financing for Mrobot’s hospital logistics robots was led by several institutions, including Cuhua Huijin Equity, Juncheng Industrial, China Academy of Science and Technology Development, and senior healthcare industry channel partners. According to Mrobot, all investors in this round are stakeholders with resources in the medical and general health sectors, which will provide strong support for the rapid development of its hospital logistics robots.

Jiang Huabing, Chairman of Noah Hospital Logistics Robots, stated: “Noah has developed the world’s first 5G-enabled hospital logistics robot. China is poised to be the global leader in the 5G era. Logistics robots represent a highly visible, everyday 5G application and are among the most practical and first-to-scale 5G applications in hospitals. Noah is fully committed to meeting the expectations of all investors, employees, partners, and customers, empowering Chinese hospitals to become leaders in intelligent logistics in the 5G era.”