As embodied intelligence enters a critical period of large-scale implementation, the robot rental track is witnessing a pivotal phase of pattern restructuring. On February 2nd, Qingtianzu, a global robot rental service platform, announced two core moves: completing a new round of key management layout and officially launching the national city partner strategy. Driven by these two initiatives, its layout in the Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) sector has accelerated once again.

Senior Alibaba Executives Join to Fill the Gap in National Operation

The most industry-attracting part of this management expansion is the joining of two senior Alibaba executives, which precisely strengthens Qingtianzu’s core capabilities in channel construction and strategy implementation.

According to Qingtianzu’s official announcement, Li Liheng (alias: Black Cat Sheriff), a senior channel construction expert from Alibaba, has been appointed Co-President, and Wang Mingfeng (alias: Tianxiang), an expert in Alibaba’s business strategy and organizational transformation, has taken up the position of Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). Both executives bring profound industry experience and mature methodologies, and will directly help Qingtianzu expand the national market and build standardized systems.

Public information shows that as the first principal of Alibaba’s “China Supplier Iron Army”, Li Liheng has long been engaged in frontline market expansion and team system construction, with rich experience in recruitment, training and practical management. The channel construction methodology he led has supported multiple platform-based enterprises in completing national layout, and he will be directly responsible for building and operating the city partner team this time [4][5]. Wang Mingfeng, on the other hand, is a master of Alibaba’s “Three Axes” management philosophy, proficient in strategic design and organizational replication in complex business scenarios, and will provide systematic methodological support for the standardized operation and scale expansion of Qingtianzu’s national network [4][5].

Combined with the existing core management team, Qingtianzu has built a comprehensive top-tier lineup covering strategy, operation, marketing and channels: Jiang Qingsong, partner and co-president of Zhiyuan, serves as chairman of the board; Li Yiyan, founder of Feikuo Technology, acts as CEO; Chen Yanxia, former vice president of Ele.me, takes the post of COO; and Li Kewei, founder of Miaozhanggui, serves as CMO [3]. The diverse background of the team not only combines embodied intelligence industry resources and Internet operation experience, but also strengthens offline channel and scenario implementation capabilities, laying a solid organizational foundation for subsequent large-scale development.

Launching the City Partner Strategy to Address Industry Implementation Pain Points

Concurrent with the management upgrade, the national city partner strategy officially launched by Qingtianzu is regarded as a key step for it to seize the initiative in the robot rental track. Focusing on three core areas—organizational structure optimization, operation system standardization, and platform capability output—the strategy aims to achieve rapid sinking of the service network by providing systematic empowerment to local service providers [1].

Different from the traditional franchising model, Qingtianzu’s city partner strategy emphasizes more on resource integration and capability sharing. The platform will provide partners with full-chain support from brand authorization to digital tools, and ensure user experience through unified service standards, helping local service providers achieve light-asset operation [1]. At present, the first batch of pilot cities has entered the service provider recruitment stage, and will gradually expand to the whole country in the future [1].

The implementation of this strategy accurately addresses the core pain points of the current robot rental industry. Data shows that the scale of China’s robot rental market exceeded 10 billion yuan in 2025, and is expected to reach 20 billion yuan in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of over 30%. China has become the world’s largest robot rental market, accounting for more than 35% of the global share [2]. However, along with the rapid development of the industry, it also faces problems such as complex service links, fragmented scenarios, and low cross-regional delivery efficiency, which restrict large-scale implementation [3].

By integrating scattered offline service resources through the city partner model and matching with a standardized operation system, Qingtianzu is expected to solve the above pain points. Combined with the platform’s existing advantages—attracting more than 200,000 registered users within three weeks of launch, with daily rental orders stably exceeding 200 [1][3], and having established cooperation with chain brands such as Meiyijia and Haidilao, covering 13 application scenarios [2][3]—this national layout is expected to accelerate the popularization of robot services.

Dual Support from Capital and Team: A New Variable in the RaaS Track

As the world’s first robot rental platform, Qingtianzu has developed rapidly since its official launch in Shanghai on December 22nd, 2025. It has completed the seed round of financing, led by Hillhouse Ventures, with the participation of multiple institutions including Fosun Creation and Muhua Technology Innovation. The funds will be mainly used for national market expansion, platform technology and service system construction [3].

The launch of this management upgrade and the city partner strategy has formed a triple synergy of “capital + team + channels”. From the perspective of industry development logic, the robot rental track is transforming from “wild growth” to “standardized operation”. The “RaaS full-stack service” model promoted by Qingtianzu provides a one-stop solution of “equipment + algorithms + content + operation and maintenance”, transforming the high-threshold robot use into accessible services, which is in line with the industry development trend [2].

It is worth noting that the current robot rental market still has problems such as large price fluctuations and unclear profit models. In the second half of 2025, the daily rental price of humanoid robots plummeted from a peak of 50,000 yuan to 2,000 yuan, a drop of 96% [2]. Through platform-based integration, Qingtianzu has realized transparent and affordable rental prices. For example, it has reduced the daily rental price of Zhiyuan D1Edu robot dog to 200 yuan, 60% lower than the market price, and shortened the rental process from one week to 10 minutes [2]. This model innovation is expected to promote the healthy development of the industry.

Conclusion: Restructuring the Robot Service Ecosystem and Embarking on a New Chapter of Large-Scale Implementation

The joining of the two senior Alibaba executives has injected mature Internet operation and channel expansion capabilities into Qingtianzu; the launch of the national city partner strategy has opened up the “last mile” for robot service implementation. Against the background of the accelerated penetration of embodied intelligence, Qingtianzu is expected to restructure the robot rental service ecosystem with its improved management team, innovative platform model and strong capital support.

In the future, with the gradual improvement of the national service network and in-depth collaboration with all parties in the industrial chain, Qingtianzu may promote robot services from “niche pilot” to “mass popularization”, become a leader in the RaaS track, and provide new support for the digital transformation of the real economy.

References:

1. Sohu: “Qingtianzu Welcomes Former Alibaba Executives and Launches National City Partner Strategy to Explore New Opportunities Together”

2. Industry Analysis: “Robot Rental: From ‘Sky-High Daily Rent’ to ‘Bargain Price’, Is the Ten-Billion Market a Bubble or a New Blue Ocean?”

3. Industry Report: “The World’s First Robot Rental Platform ‘Qingtianzu’ Completes Seed Round Financing, Surpassing 200,000 Users Within Three Weeks of Launch”

4. Securities Times: “Alibaba ‘Iron Army’ Principal Li Liheng and Business Transformation Expert Wang Mingfeng Join Qingtianzu to Launch National City Partner Strategy”

5. Securities Times e-Company: “Former Alibaba Executives Join Qingtianzu to Launch National City Partner Strategy”

6. National Business Daily: “Exceeding 200,000 Users Within Three Weeks of Launch! The Robot Rental Track Heats Up: Qingtianzu Introduces Former ‘Alibaba System’ Executives and Launches National Partner Plan”