One of China's leading AI startups has reportedly launched a fund investing in early-stage large language model companies.
Zhipu AI, a Chinese generative AI startup, has created a fund to target early-stage startups developing large language models.
The company plans to raise a total $211m for the fund, known as the Zhipu Ecosystem Fund, or Z Fund., according to a Deal Street Asia report.
The fund reportedly has more than 10 startups in its portfolio, having made its first close. Investee companies include Chinese tech startups Infrawaves, a high performance network system provider, and Inifinigence AI, an artificial general intelligence company.
Founded in 2019, Zhipu AI has often been described as one of China’s leading AI companies, and as a competitor to US large language model startups like OpenAI. It has itself received investment from the Saudi state-owned oil and gas company Aramco through its CVC fund Prosperity7 Ventures, which participated in a $400m funding round earlier this year.
It is also backed by the municipal governments of Beijing and Shenzen in China. In 2023, it received funding from corporates including the Chinese multinational tech companies Alibaba and Tencent.
