Four Chinese AI Startups Join Unicorn Club, Intensify Competition with OpenAI
Summary:
Four Chinese AI startups, Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and 01.ai each reached a $1 billion-plus valuation, joining the 'unicorn' club and intensifying competition with global leader OpenAI. This surge is driven by domestic investment and a race to replace the unavailable OpenAI chatbot, ChatGPT, in China. Among the startups, Zhipu AI leads with a considerable workforce and a $2.5B valuation after recently securing undisclosed funding. Moonshot AI, focusing on digital assistant creation, equally values $2.5B. Meanwhile, gaming-focused MiniMax is also valued at $2.5B, while open-source model developer 01.ai trails with a $1.2B valuation.
Four artificial intelligence (AI) startups based in China, namely Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and 01.ai, have reached the billion-dollar valuation milestone, marking their entrance into the 'unicorn' club and intensifying the competition with international leader OpenAI. With support from local investors, these companies are ramping up talent acquisition efforts to create cutting-edge AI solutions. Nonetheless, in terms of valuation and technological advancements, OpenAI continues to maintain its leadership with a recent deal that boosted its valuation to a staggering $80 billion. The unavailability of OpenAI's AI chatbot ChatGPT in China provides a unique opportunity for these native startups to claim a stake in China's thriving AI landscape. Currently, as many as 262 AI-centric startups are in the running to position themselves as ChatGPT substitutes in China, as provided by IT Juzi's data.
Among these competitive startups, Zhipu AI has the largest workforce with 800 team members. The Financial Times states that Zhipu AI, after its latest funding round in March, is valued at a hefty $2.5 billion. Numerous industry heavyweights such as Alibaba Cloud, Tencent, Xiaomi, and the National Social Security Fund are among the company's backers. The exact amount raised in this round remains undisclosed by the company. In addition to Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI has also achieved a valuation of $2.5 billion. Moonshot AI focuses on creating digital assistants to summarize text for students and office workers. With over 12 million visits in March, their AI chatbot Kimi is witnessing rapid growth. The company's investors include Alibaba, Xiaohongshu, Meituan, Hongshan, ZhenFund, and Monolith Management.
Meanwhile, MiniMax, a Shanghai-based firm valued at $2.5 billion, is tackling the gaming industry with its anime-styled characters. The firm's characters interact humorously and personably with users in generating responses. Major investors backing MiniMax include Alibaba, Tencent, HongShan, Hillhouse, and Future Capital.
Of the four freshly-made unicorns, 01.ai is slightly trailing with a valuation of $1.2 billion. The company has introduced series of open-source models tailored for the Chinese market and launched its productivity-centric chatbot called Wanzhi. Backed by investors like Alibaba Cloud, Xiaomi, Sinovation Ventures, and Shunwei Capital, the company is poised for growth.
Published At
5/3/2024 10:30:41 AM
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