Kai-Fu Lee’s AI Startup, 01.AI, Completes Financing Round Raising Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

The AI unicorn company “01.AI,” founded by Kai-Fu Lee, has completed a new round of financing, reaching hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Chinese media 36Kr.

Insiders say that participants in this round of financing include an international strategic investor, Southeast Asian financial groups, and several other institutions.

01.AI was established in May 2023, founded by Kai-Fu Lee, the chairman of Sinovation Ventures and former vice president of Microsoft Global. The core team members come from companies such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Baidu. Recent reports suggest that several senior AI talents responsible for technology and product pipelines from Google, Microsoft, and others have joined 01.AI.

Last year, 01.AI launched an AI office tool called PopAi overseas. According to official data, in the nine months since PopAi was launched, the product’s ROI (Return on Investment) is close to 1, with nearly ten million users. In 2024, the company introduced their first closed-source model, Yi-Large. In May, 2024, 01.AI launched a productivity tool, “WanZhi”, in the Chinese market.

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