Zhipu AI focuses on building next‑generation cognitive intelligence large models and positions itself on Chinese innovation in large‑model AI. The company is described as a Chinese artificial intelligence startup specializing in large models. Media reports say it received participation from Prosperity7, the venture fund affiliated with Saudi Aramco. That investment is reported to be about $400 million. The company’s post‑money valuation from the report is roughly $3 billion. No operating metrics (revenue or user counts) or detailed product roadmaps were provided in the article. Zhipu AI originates from technology transferred from the Knowledge Engineering Lab of Tsinghua University’s computer science department and was founded in 2019. The company develops ultra‑large pretrained models and has constructed a high‑precision general knowledge graph, integrating the two into a data‑and‑knowledge dual‑driven cognitive engine. Its technical approach favors a GLM (general language model) training path that the company positions as more efficient than GPT‑style training and better at understanding complex contexts. The team includes senior technical leadership and advisors from Tsinghua—CEO Zhang Peng (Tsinghua CS), chairman Liu Debing (a disciple of Academician Gao Wen), and president Wang Shaolan (Tsinghua innovation leading PhD). Zhipu’s core technologies have won a National Scientific Progress Award (second class) and a Beijing invention patent first prize. The company’s valuation reached about $1 billion following the recent financing. Zhipu AI, founded in 2019 as a Tsinghua University spinout, develops large language models and conversational AI. The company has open sourced ChatGLM-6B (6 billion parameters) and GLM-130B (130 billion parameters); ChatGLM-6B is claimed to run inferences on a single consumer-grade GPU. Its user-facing chatbot, ChatGLM, is in a close beta aimed at academic and industry users. Financially, Zhipu said it raised “hundreds of million yuan” in a Series B last September but has not disclosed exact totals. Past investors include Qiming Venture Partners, Legend Capital and Tsinghua Holdings. An affiliate recently added a Meituan subsidiary as a shareholder, which now owns a 10% stake.

Total raised

$400M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

May 2024