ChinaZhang Junbin
Zhang Junbin, born in 1990, became interested in robotics in middle school and won a gold medal at an international youth robotics competition in 2006. He earned his undergraduate degree at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and a master's degree at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and was mentored in his entrepreneurial path by Professor Li Zexiang of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a noted backer of Chinese robotics startups. He founded Narwal Robotics in 2016, shortly after finishing graduate school, and built it around the idea of a self-cleaning robot vacuum-mop, a concept first taken to market via Kickstarter. He was named to Forbes China's 30 Under 30 list in 2019, and as CEO has led Narwal to a Tencent-backed pre-IPO round and a reported $2.4 billion valuation in 2025.