Unitree Technology will open subscriptions on Aug. 10 at 150.8 yuan per share, giving the company an implied valuation of 61 billion yuan. The IPO has been framed by the market as the first major humanoid robotics listing, but its prospectus has pushed another issue into focus: as of the signing date, only 14 employees had received equity incentives.
With 480 employees on staff, that means roughly 2.9% of the workforce was covered by the program, while 466 employees held no shares.
Prospectus details show 14 granted, 11 exercised
According to disclosures cited from page 86 of the prospectus:
- 14 employees had been granted incentive interests as of the signing date;
- 11 employees had exercised, corresponding to 5,113,372 company shares;
- nine employees who had received grants later left the company, and their incentive interests were canceled, implying a 39% attrition rate.
The group of incentive recipients included 12 employees from research and development, along with one from sales and one from production.
The filing also disclosed three core employee holders:
- Yang Zhiyu, director and core technical staff member, indirectly holding 0.49%;
- Chen Li, director and head of the sales and service system, indirectly holding 0.26%;
- Zhang Yangguang, director and head of algorithms and software, indirectly holding 0.15%.
Coverage trails peers
The article compares Unitree with listed peers in the same sector. Unitree granted equity incentives to 14 employees out of 480. UBTECH used 41 employee shareholding platforms covering 689 people, while Dobot used four platforms covering 120 people.
On that comparison, UBTECH’s coverage was about 49 times that of Unitree, and Dobot’s was about 8.5 times. The article describes Unitree’s approach as an “elite shareholding” model that stands out in the robotics sector.
Two rounds of incentives, low price, limited seats
The prospectus shows that Unitree used two incentive arrangements.
The first round ran from September 2017 to December 2021. The company signed option agreements with “Yang Zhiyu and 17 other employees,” with a grant price of 1 yuan per unit of registered capital. Employees indirectly held company shares through partnership interests in Shanghai Yuyi, the incentive platform.
The second round started in January 2024. Under the 2023 incentive plan, six employees were granted incentive interests, again through Shanghai Yuyi.
The pricing gap is large. Grants were priced at 1 yuan per unit of registered capital, versus the IPO issue price of 150.8 yuan per share. The article points out that this discount applied to only 14 employees.
It also notes that the company reported 1.7 billion yuan in revenue in 2025 and carried a 61 billion yuan valuation, making the narrow reach of the program a notable point in the filing.
23 employees had received grants at one point, nine later left
The prospectus disclosed that 23 employees had received incentives at some point, but nine later departed and had their awards canceled.
The article discusses several factors around that 39% figure, including the long lock-up, performance-linked vesting and repurchase terms. The cited filing excerpt, however, does not give a stated reason for those departures.
Three-layer structure and long lock-up
Unitree’s employee incentive structure is built through three layers:
- Unitree Technology as the listed entity;
- Shanghai Yuyi, which holds 10.9414%;
- Hangzhou Yixin and Hangzhou Yiyi above Shanghai Yuyi;
- incentivized employees participating as limited partners.
The article highlights several design features:
- Wang Xingxing controls the employee shareholding platform through Hangzhou Tianze, the executive partner of Shanghai Yuyi;
- the lock-up runs for 36 months after a qualified listing plus five years after each exercise tranche, extending to as long as eight to nine years;
- vesting is split into four stages at 25% per year and tied to performance reviews, with failed annual assessments not carried forward;
- if an employee resigns without authorization or commits misconduct, the repurchase price is limited to the actual consideration paid, or 1 yuan per unit of registered capital.
The article says the structure supports long-term stability of share ownership while also drawing attention because of the relatively high departure rate among granted employees.
Share-based payment expense reached about 368 million yuan
The prospectus shows that Shanghai Yuyi increased capital in the company twice at registered-capital pricing, in 2022 and 2025, triggering sizable share-based payment expenses:
- 18.7226 million yuan in 2022;
- 349.0655 million yuan in January-September 2025.
Combined, the two items amounted to about 368 million yuan. Both were booked into non-recurring profit and loss, resulting in the following changes:
- 2022 net profit moved from negative 8.0708 million yuan after excluding non-recurring items to negative 22.1005 million yuan;
- net profit for the first nine months of 2025 moved from 430.6123 million yuan after excluding non-recurring items to 105.3314 million yuan.
The article says the accounting charge was borne by the company and diluted the interests of existing shareholders.
Another 9.54% of equity is earmarked for future incentives
The filing also says that partnership interests held by Wang Xingxing in the upper-level structure of Shanghai Yuyi correspond to 9.54% of Unitree’s equity, and that all of it will be used for future employee incentives.
Under the disclosed plan, no less than 50% of that pool will be granted in the two natural years after the company has been listed for 36 months. The rest will be granted during the 10-year life of the employee shareholding plan.
The prospectus warns that future grants may generate more share-based payment expenses and could have a material impact on results in future periods. The article also notes that Wang Xingxing himself is not included as an incentive recipient, and that exercise proceeds after costs will be transferred to the company without compensation.
How the grants map onto the workforce
As of the end of September 2025, Unitree’s workforce was made up of:
- 48 management employees, or 10%;
- 141 sales employees, or 29.38%;
- 175 R&D employees, or 36.46%;
- 116 production employees, or 24.17%.
Against that base, 12 of 175 R&D staff received incentives, equal to 6.9%. One of 141 sales staff received incentives, or 0.7%. One of 116 production staff received incentives, or 0.9%. The article says almost all 48 management employees were left out.
Comparison with Changxin Technology
The article also references Changxin Technology, which listed in July 2026 at 8.66 yuan per share and reached a market value above 3.3 trillion yuan after opening, becoming the largest A-share company by market capitalization. Its employee shareholding plan is described as broader in coverage and lower in entry cost.
The comparison in the article breaks the models down as follows:
| Incentive model | Coverage | Representative companies | Advantage | Drawback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broad-based | Wide | Changxin, UBTECH, Dobot | Higher staff motivation and stronger cohesion | More equity dilution and more complex administration |
| Elite-based | Narrow | Unitree Technology | Concentrated ownership and targeted incentives | Weaker sense of inclusion for ordinary staff and a higher departure rate among core employees |
The article uses that framework to raise three questions: why only 14 people were covered before the IPO, why 39% of granted employees later left, and how many people future grants will eventually reach.
Investors are watching the incentive structure closely
For secondary-market investors, the article says Unitree’s incentive structure sends several signals: a narrow participation rate, a 39% departure rate among granted employees, long lock-up and strict repurchase clauses, and the risk of more share-based payment expenses in the future. At the same time, the 1-yuan grant price and the planned use of another 9.54% equity for incentives point to the possibility of broader grants later on.
Unitree’s IPO subscription starts on Aug. 10. Questions around employee ownership coverage, retention outcomes and future grant allocation are likely to stay in view as the listing proceeds.