{"id":20795,"date":"2026-05-22T09:28:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T09:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/chinas-ai-start-up-funding-triples-in-first-quarter-amid-bets-on-llms-robotics\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T09:28:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T09:28:49","slug":"chinas-ai-start-up-funding-triples-in-first-quarter-amid-bets-on-llms-robotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/chinas-ai-start-up-funding-triples-in-first-quarter-amid-bets-on-llms-robotics\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s AI start-up funding triples in first quarter amid bets on LLMs, robotics"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Funding for China&rsquo;s artificial-intelligence-related start-ups jumped nearly threefold year on year in the first quarter, as investors poured capital into large language models (LLMs) and embodied AI amid growing optimism over the country&rsquo;s technology ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">AI-related start-ups secured more than 110 billion yuan (US$16.2 billion) in the first three months of the year, representing a 185 per cent surge from the same period last year, according to data released on Thursday by Beijing-based venture capital and private equity research firm Zero2IPO Research.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The AI boom has helped lift China&rsquo;s broader private equity and venture capital market. Total investment activity reached 2,568 deals worth 234.4 billion yuan in the March quarter, representing year-on-year increases of nearly 5 per cent in deal volume and over 15 per cent in value, the report showed.<\/p>\n<div data-qa=\"InlineAdSlot-Container\" class=\"css-zl1inp e11v3ui14\">\n<div class=\"e11v3ui10 e11v3ui13 css-1umbx1w e1flwkbl0\" data-qa=\"AdSlot-Container\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\" readability=\"10.969325153374\">Several of the quarter&rsquo;s largest fundraising rounds were completed by leading generative AI developers, including <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Moonshot AI,<\/span> StepFun, Z.ai (formerly <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Zhipu AI<\/span>) and <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">MiniMax,<\/span> as well as embodied AI firm Galaxea AI. The blockbuster rounds reflect intense investor appetite for automation and advanced computing infrastructure.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\" readability=\"13.712121212121\">Zero2IPO also reported a sharp rebound in foreign-currency investments. The number of foreign-currency deals more than doubled year on year to 210, while disclosed investment value skyrocketed over 495 per cent to 67.3 billion yuan, with capital primarily targeting AI and consumer companies. Cornerstone investments in <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Hong Kong initial public offerings<\/span> remained active, according to the report.<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Moonshot AI founder Yang Zhilin delivers a speech at the Zhongguancun forum in Beijing, March 25, 2026. Photo: Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In contrast, yuan-denominated investments fell nearly 13 per cent to 167.1 billion yuan.<\/p>\n<div data-qa=\"InlineAdSlot-Container\" class=\"css-zl1inp e11v3ui14\">\n<div class=\"e11v3ui10 e11v3ui13 css-1xd1hm8 e1flwkbl0\" data-qa=\"AdSlot-Container\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><sub>China&rsquo;s AI start-up funding triples in first quarter amid bets on LLMs, robotics<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Funding for China&rsquo;s artificial-intelligence-related start-ups jumped nearly threefold year on year in the first quarter, as investors poured capital into large language models (LLMs) and embodied AI amid growing optimism over the country&rsquo;s technology ecosystem. AI-related start-ups secured more than 110 billion yuan (US$16.2 billion) in the first three months of the year, representing a&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/chinas-ai-start-up-funding-triples-in-first-quarter-amid-bets-on-llms-robotics\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;China\u2019s AI start-up funding triples in first quarter amid bets on LLMs, robotics&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}