On May 8, Ben Cheng, CEO of C Capital, attended the “AI Strategy Entrepreneur Forum: Embracing the Age of AI Agents”, hosted by HKU iCube (the University of Hong Kong’s entrepreneurship and innovation platform), and delivered a keynote address.

As AI agents drive a wave of transformative change, C Capital remains firmly convinced that the ultimate value of technology lies not in replacing human beings, but in extending capabilities, reshaping collaboration, and unlocking creativity. From embodied intelligence to AI Agents, from the laboratory to real-world applications, C Capital continues to deepen its presence at the intersection of technology, consumer, and financial sectors — committed to identifying growth-stage companies that dare to push boundaries and drive innovation with a global vision.

The forum focused on the profound impact of AI agents on global industries, corporate architecture, and governance models, bringing together leaders from academia, technology, and industry. Ben Cheng, representing the investment community, provided a capital-lens analysis of the core investment logic underpinning the next phase of AI development.

Ben delivered a keynote speech titled “The Next AI Investment Theme: Embodied Intelligence + AI Agents”. He noted that AI agents are extending from the software domain into the physical world, and that the convergence of embodied intelligence and AI Agents will give rise to a new generation of human-machine interaction paradigms and industrial applications.

Figure 1: C Capital CEO Ben Cheng delivering his keynote address. Source: Event organizer

In his speech, Ben shared C Capital’s portfolio investments in the AI and robotics sectors. C Capital believes the robotics industry is evolving from the first generation of industrial robots and the second and third generations of mobile intelligent robots, toward a fourth generation of “humanoid robots + embodied intelligence”. Drawing an analogy with the development trajectories of automobiles and smartphones, Ben argued that the differentiating core of humanoid robots going forward will no longer be hardware — but the AI “brain,” specifically the embodied intelligence foundation model.

Based on this thesis, C Capital’s investment focus is clear: “Embodied Intelligence + AI Agents”. C Capital has systematically built positions along this theme, covering key companies across the full stack — from complete robots to core components to foundation models. One example is AGIBOT, China’s leading general-purpose humanoid robot company. Within just two years of its founding, AGIBOT launched two generations of products and achieved commercial revenue. Since C Capital’s entry, the company’s valuation has grown sevenfold, with an expected IPO valuation exceeding USD 6 billion.

Figure 2: AGIBOT’s core product lineup. Source: AGIBOT

Ben stated: “Behind these portfolio companies lies our unwavering confidence in AI’s journey from software into the physical world. Only when an agent truly has a ‘body’ — capable of sensing, deciding, and acting — does technology complete the loop from the digital to the real. We believe the next generation of agents will no longer be chat windows on a screen, but tangible partners stepping into factories, homes, and cities.”

In the subsequent panel discussion, Ben drew on C Capital’s portfolio companies to share the real-world path and critical bottlenecks in taking AI agents from technology to commercialization. He noted that robotics companies currently face high R&D costs and long payback cycles on their AI investments, making near-term profitability difficult. However, he emphasized that only through sustained investment in AI capabilities can robots genuinely evolve from “executing preset instructions” to “autonomously sensing, deciding, and adapting to their environment” — and that this is the foundation for delivering commercial value. Ben further cautioned that in the AI era, companies cannot go far by relying solely on large language models or general-purpose agents. The real key to success lies in flexibly leveraging AI tools while building on one’s unique advantages — industry-specific knowledge, proprietary data, supply chain relationships, and customer networks — to integrate internal and external resources and construct moats that are difficult to replicate.

Figure 3: C Capital CEO Ben Cheng sharing insights at the roundtable forum. Source: Event organizer

Figure 4: C Capital CEO Ben Cheng with fellow roundtable panelists. Source: Event organizer

As an investment firm rooted in Asia with a global reach, C Capital remains dedicated to identifying and empowering innovative companies with disruptive potential. C Capital stands ready to walk alongside the pioneers — driving technology to take root as the new industrial infrastructure, ensuring that every step of “intelligent evolution” serves a more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable vision of business and society.