With a market share of only 6.7%! Can SmartMore, valued at over 1.2 billion USD, become the first stock in the industrial AI agent sector?

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On March 16, SmartMore submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to data from CIC, SmartMore is the largest industrial AI agent provider by revenue scale in China for 2025 and also the first company to achieve large-scale, cross-regional, multi-scenario deployment of industrial AI agents. If it successfully goes public, SmartMore will also become the first stock in the industrial AI agent sector.

According to the prospectus, SmartMore primarily provides industrial AI agents, including robots, edge AI sensors, and intelligent agent software systems. As of December 31, 2025, it has served more than 730 clients globally, such as Tesla, Carl Zeiss, Luxshare Precision, GoerTek, BOE, CRRC, CALB, and Kedali, covering multiple industry verticals.

According to the plan, SmartMore intends to use the proceeds from the IPO to accelerate technology and product development over the next five years, drive commercial expansion, engage in strategic partnerships and investments, as well as provide working capital and general corporate purposes for the next three years.

Revenue primarily comes from industrial AI agents.

In 2019, Jia Jia founded SmartMore, where he serves as the Chairman of the Board and Executive Director. He is mainly responsible for setting the overall vision, strategic direction, technological innovation, and operational management of the company.

Jia Jia has over 25 years of experience in academia and the technology industry. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Fudan University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

From 2004 to 2024, he worked at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, mainly engaged in education and scientific research, and served as a tenured professor before leaving. During his time in academia, he also served as a Distinguished Scientist at Tencent’s YouTu Lab. Since 2024, Jia Jia has been serving as a Chair Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and as the Director of the Von Neumann Institute at HKUST.

In 2018, Jia Jia was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and in January 2026, he was elected as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Since 2021, he has served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (IEEE TPAMI).

Benefiting from the founder's technical background, SmartMore launched its first AI quality inspection project at its inception. In 2020, it introduced ViMo, the industry's first cloud-edge integrated AI vision software. The following year, it launched an intelligent inspection robot; in 2022, it released its flagship product, the VS800P, the world’s first ultra-compact industrial smart sensor using liquid zoom lenses. In 2023, it unveiled IndustryGPT, the world’s first industrial-grade multimodal large model series; in 2024, it announced the world's first intelligent inspection robot capable of successfully addressing comprehensive quality inspections for complex components.

During SmartMore’s development, it attracted investments from institutions such as IDG Capital, Hidden Mountain Capital, Legend Capital, Cornerstone Capital, and Sequoia China. In February 2026, it completed its Series C funding round, reaching a valuation of $1.23 billion.

In terms of financial performance, SmartMore reported revenues of 485 million yuan, 756 million yuan, and 1.086 billion yuan for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025 respectively. Annual losses were 546 million yuan, 735 million yuan, and 991 million yuan; adjusted net losses were 394 million yuan, 379 million yuan, and 272 million yuan; gross margins were 30.5%, 32.3%, and 37.3% respectively.

SmartMore stated that the decline in adjusted net loss was mainly due to rapid revenue growth as the business scale expanded, continuous improvement in cost efficiency, and operating leverage achieved by more strictly controlling the proportion of operating expenses to revenue.

SmartMore's revenue primarily comes from the sales of industrial AI agents. From 2023 to 2025, revenues generated by industrial AI agents were RMB 303 million, RMB 558 million, and RMB 853 million, accounting for 62.4%, 73.8%, and 78.5% of total revenue, respectively. SmartMore stated that the revenue from industrial AI agents recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 67.8% between 2023 and 2025.

During the same period, the revenue from AI infrastructure was RMB 137 million, RMB 191 million, and RMB 219 million, representing 28.4%, 25.3%, and 20.1% of total revenue, with a CAGR of 26.1%.

Relying on major clients

In response to losses, SmartMore stated that from a strategic perspective, scaling is crucial for achieving and maintaining profitability, as it not only drives revenue growth but also serves as a structural driver for cost reduction. The company plans to achieve long-term profitability through three main strategies: driving revenue growth, improving gross margins, and increasing operating leverage.

Regarding revenue growth, SmartMore noted that it could benefit from the rapid expansion of the industrial AI agent market. According to data from灼识咨询(CIC), the market size of China’s industrial AI agent industry expanded from RMB 5.8 billion in 2023 to RMB 14.8 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 59.9% during this period, and is expected to increase to RMB 90.6 billion by 2030, reflecting a CAGR of 43.6% from 2025 to 2030. SmartMore aims to further enhance market penetration by expanding its product portfolio, deepening relationships with key clients, and broadening its customer base both domestically and internationally.

Among risk factors, SmartMore indicated that future operating performance largely depends on its ability to successfully manage its expansion and operational complexity. Its experience in some new application areas may be limited, making it more difficult to predict customer needs, technical specifications, operational constraints, and purchasing behavior. Established suppliers in specific application fields may compete more effectively due to their industry experience, customer relationships, and brand recognition. Expansion into new application areas and the development of new products may require significant R&D investment and management resources to achieve desired returns, and the cost structures of these new products may differ, possibly resulting in lower profit margins than existing products, which could put downward pressure on overall operating profits.

Additionally, SmartMore faces dependence on major clients.From 2023 to 2025, SmartMore’s combined revenue from its top five clients was RMB 191 million, RMB 226 million, and RMB 239 million, representing 39.3%, 29.9%, and 22.0% of total revenue, respectively. Revenue from the single largest client during the same period was RMB 73.2 million, RMB 58 million, and RMB 70.5 million, accounting for 15.1%, 7.7%, and 6.5% of total revenue, respectively.

SmartMore stated that any loss of sales from existing clients could adversely affect revenue. The company pointed out that although the industrial AI agent industry has high entry barriers, some clients may develop similar products in-house rather than relying on SmartMore's offerings. Additionally, if there are delays or shortages in SmartMore’s supply chain or in the availability of its products and solutions, clients may turn to competitors to meet their needs. Clients' own businesses may face challenges such as loss of market share or business termination, which could impact their purchasing behavior and reduce demand for SmartMore’s products and solutions.

Moreover, despite being the largest industrial AI agent provider in China by revenue in 2025, SmartMore’s overall revenue accounts for only about 6.7% of the industry scale. Meanwhile, losses and reliance on major clients remain significant challenges for the company. Amidst industry competition and rapid technological iteration, whether SmartMore can achieve sustainable growth remains to be tested by the market.

Author | Wu Ren

Source | Zhengtan Finance (ID: teccj6)

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