Four Chinese startups specializing in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have each achieved a valuation exceeding $1 billion as they strive to compete with industry leaders like OpenAI.
The newly established unicorn companies are reportedly Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and 01.ai. These companies have garnered support from local investors and are now seeking to attract talent to develop AI products.
OpenAI currently leads in terms of valuation and technological advancements. On February 17, the San Francisco-based AI firm closed a deal that propelled its valuation to over $80 billion.
Despite OpenAI’s dominance in the AI race, its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, is not accessible in China, allowing startups in the country to vie for a share of the AI market.
According to data provider IT Juzi, there are currently 262 startups focused on AI attempting to provide alternatives to ChatGPT for the Chinese population.
Among the front-runners, Zhipu AI boasts the most employees. The AI company, valued at $2.5 billion after its latest round of fundraising in March, employs 800 staff members, according to the Financial Times.
Zhipu AI is supported by prominent regional entities such as Alibaba Cloud, Tencent, Xiaomi, the National Social Security Fund, and others. However, the exact amount raised by the company has not been fully disclosed.
Another AI firm, Moonshot, has also achieved a valuation of $2.5 billion. Moonshot concentrates on students and office workers who utilize digital assistants to summarize text. The firm’s AI chatbot, Kimi, garnered over 12 million visits in March and is experiencing rapid growth.
Moonshot is backed by Alibaba, Xiaohongshu, Meituan, HongShan, ZhenFund, and Monolith Management.
Meanwhile, MiniMax, based in Shanghai and valued at $2.5 billion, targets the gaming market by utilizing anime-themed characters. These avatars engage in banter and even flirt with users while generating responses.
The firm has received investments from Alibaba, Tencent, HongShan, Hillhouse, and Future Capital.
Among the four recently established unicorns, 01.ai trails behind with a valuation of $1.2 billion. The company has launched a series of open-source models tailored for the Chinese market. It has also introduced a productivity-focused chatbot called Wanzhi.
01.ai has secured investments from Alibaba Cloud, Xiaomi, Sinovation Ventures, and Shunwei Capital.
In other news, Microsoft has allocated $2.2 billion for cloud and AI expansion in Malaysia.
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