HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Unitree Robotics is looking at a company valuation of as much as 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) for its planned initial public offering, two people with knowledge of the plans of one of the country's newest and most high-profile startups said.

Unitree's robots captured the popular imagination globally after the company released videos last year that showed them with human-like capabilities, such as walking, climbing and carrying loads.

Its founder, Wang Xingxing, along with AI startup DeepSeek, was among a handful of executives who attended a rare meeting with President Xi Jinping in February, in what was seen as a turning point for China's policies for the technology sector.

The popularity of startups including Unitree and DeepSeek comes as China is investing billions of dollars in robotics, semiconductor and AI, amid an ageing population and growing competition with the U.S. over advanced technologies.

Unitree said last week on its X account that it was actively advancing the IPO preparations and was expecting to submit the listing application documents in the fourth quarter of the year.

It did not provide other details, including a timeline for a potential listing.

If successful, Unitree's IPO would be one of the biggest onshore tech listings in years, and would come as Beijing steps up efforts to support its tech champions in tapping capital markets for their funding needs.

Chinese exchanges are experiencing a gradual revival in IPOs after nearly a two-year hiatus due to tightened regulatory scrutiny of applications and a volatile stock market.

Onshore IPO proceeds totalled $7 billion so far this year, up 40% year-on-year but still a far cry from the tens of billions raised from 2020 to 2023 for the same period, LSEG data showed.

A resurgent Chinese IPO market could help fund Beijing's technology self-sufficiency drive and keep the country's "unicorns" - firms with valuations of over $1 billion - in onshore markets, while aiding an economy suffering from the Sino-U.S. trade and tech wars.

While it is not immediately known how much Hangzhou-based Unitree is seeking to raise in the IPO, a company with a valuation of around 50 billion yuan typically has to issue more than 10% of its shares in an IPO in China.

The IPO process is in early stages and the size and valuation would be contingent on market conditions, the sources said.

"The reported $7 billion IPO valuation is untrue," said a company spokesperson on Tuesday.

UNICORN STATUS

Unitree, which has more than 30 investors, according to local corporate registry disclosures, plans to list on Shanghai's technology-focused STAR Market, said the sources. They declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

In a funding round in June, Unitree won new investors, including tech giants Alibaba ( BABA ), Tencent ( TCTZF ) and automaker Geely Holding Group, local media reported at the time.

Geely, which confirmed it was an investor, declined to comment on Unitree's IPO plans. Alibaba ( BABA ) and Tencent ( TCTZF ) did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Unitree's IPO will test investor interest in humanoid robots, a frontier industry that China is well-positioned to lead, thanks in part to its diverse and largely self-sufficient manufacturing supply chains.

The industry has benefited from an abundance of local government subsidies and favourable policies.

Unitree's targeted IPO valuation of as much as 50 billion yuan, if achieved, would be a sharp jump from its 12 billion yuan value in the last fundraising round in July, said one of the sources, adding the company is already profitable.

Sources also point out that Unitree is an industry leader with big growth potential and it would be listing in a market that is known for offering high trading multiples.

Founded in 2016, Unitree leads the industry in terms of both production and sales, becoming a go-to choice for Chinese universities researching robotics, as well as a common sight in entertainment and sporting events all over China.

Its founder, Wang, said after the June fundraising that Unitree's annual revenue had already surpassed 1 billion yuan.

Unitree began its so-called IPO tutoring process in July, with CITIC Securities acting as its tutoring institution in preparation for the listing.

(Reporting by Kane Wu and Julie Zhu in Hong Kong; additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Qiaoyi Li in Beijing; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Louise Heavens and Ros Russell)