The Chinese artificial intelligence startup Zhipu AI has raised $137 million (over 1 billion yuan) in an investment round involving state-backed funds. This round was led by Hangzhou City Investment Group Industrial Fund and Shangcheng Capital, with participation from previous investors Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.
Based in Beijing, Zhipu AI plans to use this financial support to develop its GLM large language model, expand the AI ecosystem, and specifically serve businesses in Zhejiang province and the Yangtze River Delta economic region.
Founded in 2019, Zhipu AI is considered one of China’s "AI tigers" and is recognized as a major player in the field of large language models. The company had previously secured 3 billion yuan (approximately $420 million) in investment in December 2024.
This latest investment round comes at a time of increasing competition in China’s AI sector. Competitors like DeepSeek have drawn attention by offering large language models with capabilities comparable to their Western counterparts. This trend is pushing companies like Zhipu AI to develop new open-source AI models.
This reflects China's efforts to advance in the AI sector and strengthen its position in global competition.
