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China's Unitree soars in market debut as investors bet on humanoid robots

Al Jazeera

China's Unitree soars in market debut as investors bet on humanoid robots China's Unitree Robotics has soared in its market debut, a sign of investors' confidence in Chinese innovation in the burgeoning field of human-like robots. Shares of Unitree surged more than 620 percent on Wednesday as it began trading in Shanghai, lifting the Hangzhou-based company's market capitalisation to as high as 445 billion yuan ($66bn). Unitree, whose main competitors include China's AgiBot and US-based Tesla and Boston Dynamics, had priced its initial public offering at 50.8 yuan per share for a company valuation of about 61 billion yuan ($9bn). The landmark IPO marked the first listing of a humanoid robotics company in mainland China. Unitree, founded in 2016 by engineer Wang Xingxing, is one of China's leading makers of humanoid robots, with its demonstrations of human-like figures performing dancing and martial arts routines capturing widespread attention.


Weekly quiz: How many SpaceX employees just became millionaires?

BBC News

Weekly quiz: How many SpaceX employees just became millionaires? This week, the White House hosted a UFC fight on its South Lawn, Royal Marines boarded a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker, and a schoolgirl said she would be left staring at a wall if social media was banned for under-16s. But how much attention did you pay to what else happened in the world over the past seven days? Try last week's quiz, or have a go at something from the archives . Musk's SpaceX overtakes Amazon to become world's fifth most valuable firm For the first time, individual investors can take a stake in Elon Musk's rockets-to-AI company.


Elon Musk's unprecendented accumulation of wealth

The Guardian

IPO mints Musk as world's first trillionaire - now SpaceX is public, it will be harder than ever not to have a stake in its future I'm filling in for your usual host Blake Montgomery, who is out this week on vacation. Today, we'll be talking about the historic SpaceX IPO and the US government's surprise order to limit the use of Anthropic's most advanced AI model over cybersecurity concerns. Elon Musk's SpaceX hit the market on Friday in the biggest IPO of all time, raising $85.7bn and easily shattering the previous record of $29.4bn set by the Saudi oil giant Aramco. The rocket, AI and satellite communications company ended the day at $160.95 per share, up from its IPO price of $135 and satisfying any Wall Street skepticism over the unorthodox rollout of the stock. SpaceX's successful market debut turned Musk into the world's first trillionaire, an unprecedented accumulation of wealth that supporters touted as a testament to his financial genius and critics denounced as a symbol of a broken economic system.


Automation Software Maker UiPath Rises in Market Debut

WSJ.com: WSJD - Technology

Shares of UiPath rose nearly 17% in their market debut, after the robotic-software company's initial public offering raised about $1.3 billion. The stock opened at $65.50, compared with the $56-a-share pricing of its IPO. Early afternoon, the stock traded at $68.38, giving the company a valuation of about $35.5 billion. In February, a $750 million funding valued the company at $35 billion. UiPath, founded in Romania in 2005 and now based in New York City, is one of several companies that bets on RPA, short for robotic process automation, and other automation solutions as a ticket to efficiency.


Bumble: Female-founded dating app tops $13bn in market debut

BBC News

The listing of Bumble, which also owns Badoo, makes a billionaire of 31-year-old founder Whitney Wolfe Herd.


Luminar Rises in Market Debut, Making 25-Year-Old Founder a Billionaire

WSJ.com: WSJD - Technology

Luminar Technologies Inc., which produces sensor technology for self-driving cars, started trading publicly Thursday and made its 25-year-old founder and chief executive a billionaire. Austin Russell began Luminar in 2012 at age 17, when he left Stanford University and accepted a fellowship from the foundation of entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel to develop the company. Mr. Russell will retain 83% of the voting power in Luminar and serve as its chairman. Luminar "spent a huge amount of time just figuring out what was possible," Mr. Russell said. "In some ways, it's awesome and surreal to be a part of this, going public. In other ways, it just makes a lot of sense."