The investment follows Fuzozo sales nearing 300,000 units by June 2026 and underscores Tuya’s push to commercialize AI hardware through its AI+IoT ecosystem.
Tuya Smart said it made a strategic investment in Robopoet’s recently closed RMB 100 million pre-A financing round, joining existing backers Sequoia China and GSR Ventures as well as two other new investors. The company framed the deal as part of a broader effort to speed the commercialization of physical AI, using its global AI cloud platform and AI+IoT ecosystem to help turn AI hardware products into scalable consumer businesses. The investment comes after strong market traction for Robopoet’s debut product, Fuzozo, a compact plush AI emotional companion that blinks, with cumulative domestic sales approaching 300,000 units as of June 2026. Tuya said the partnership began in 2025, when it started providing the underlying global AI cloud platform for the product. Alex Yang, Co-founder, COO and CFO of Tuya Smart, said 2026 is a key period for large-scale AI hardware commercialization and that market-validated, AI-native hardware is entering rapid growth. Tuya also pointed to sales during China’s 618 Shopping Festival, a major mid-year e-commerce event, as evidence that its AI toy enablement model can scale. Fuzozo sold 40,000 units and ranked first in Tmall’s AI toy category. Other Tuya-enabled products also posted sales momentum: Walulu sold 8,000 units; AOOMII Smart AI Companion Robot, AI Scruffy Cat and Wozzi each reached about 5,000 units; and Famue made JD.com’s Smart Robot Gold List. The company said its role has spanned product development and market expansion. It cited its Tuya AI Development Platform as helping hardware brands move from concept to mass production, while its localized operations and channel access were used to support overseas expansion. Tuya said the performance of these products shows AI hardware is moving into daily life and supports the view that its empowerment model is mature and repeatable. To support that strategy, Tuya highlighted a full-stack AI toolkit for hardware developers, including Personal Voice Activity Detection (voice-trigger detection model), Physical AI Foundation V2.8, WukongAI 3.0, T-RTC (real-time communication network), Physical Action Model and OmniMem V2.0 (long-term memory system). Looking ahead, Tuya said it plans to keep opening its global AI cloud platform and overseas resources to AI hardware innovators and the emerging “One Person Company” model, with strategic investments such as Robopoet intended to build growth around platform enablement, ecosystem collaboration and global commercialization.