Chinese startup ShengShu raises $293 million to advance artificial general intelligence

Chinese AI startup ShengShu Technology has secured $293 million (about 2 billion yuan) in a Series B funding round led by Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing division of Alibaba Group. This latest financing round also included investments from notable backers such as China Internet Investment Fund, TAL Education Group, Luminous Ventures, and existing shareholders including Baidu Ventures. Founded in 2023 by a team connected to Tsinghua University’s AI Institute, ShengShu focuses on developing advanced AI systems and has already launched two AI products: Vidu, a video generation tool, and Motus, an action-oriented model built on its video generation architecture. ShengShu aims to use the fresh capital to push forward the development of its “Foundation World Model,” an AI system designed to simulate and understand real and virtual environments, moving towards artificial general intelligence (AGI).

This sizable funding signals the growing competition within China’s AI sector, particularly in AI video generation, where ShengShu’s Vidu model ranks prominently both domestically and globally. Backing from Alibaba Cloud and strategic investors underscores the country’s drive to foster innovation in AI technologies, promoting advancements that could integrate into various industries such as education, entertainment, and beyond. ShengShu’s progress directly contributes to China’s ambition to become a global leader in AI development by accelerating research and practical AI applications around AGI.