The Beijing-based startup, also known as GigaAI, is on the cusp of closing a new funding round at a $3 billion valuation as it moves closer to a public listing, according to founder and Chief Executive Officer Huang Guan.
The financing would rank GigaAI as the most valuable startup in China focusing on world models, he said, referring to systems designed to help AI better represent and predict how people and objects move.
“Globally, we’ll be the first to IPO among world model startups,” Guan, formerly with Microsoft Research and Horizon Robotics, told Bloomberg News on the sidelines of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. He declined to say whether his company had lined up investment bankers for a listing.
A growing number of startups in China, including DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and 01.ai, are preparing to tap public markets as they race to gain ground on top developers in the US and broaden adoption of their products. American rivals, including Anthropic PBC and OpenAI, are also planning their Wall Street debuts.
Founded in 2023, GigaAI focuses on world models, an alternative approach to AI that’s thought to be useful for robotics, video games and self-driving cars, among other efforts. Investors have poured substantial sums into Western world model startups, including ventures from AI pioneers Fei-Fei Li and Yann LeCun.
On a couch at GigaAI’s booth at the conference, Guan said his startup began building its technology before Li and LeCun, and stressed that China is well-positioned to lead in world models and physical applications of AI. Beijing has also designated embodied AI and humanoid robotics as national priorities.
“We have diverse commercial and industrial application scenarios that aren’t available in the US or elsewhere,” he said. “China’s very mature, very large industrial base is far ahead of the rest of the world.”
Chinese startups like GigaAI have taken the approach of building fast and close to the factory floor. The startup’s offerings include models for autonomous driving and humanoid robots. “We move very quickly from research to engineering to product to business, creating value for our customers,” Guan said.
GigaAI’s client list includes state-owned automaker China FAW Group Corp., e-commerce player JD.com Inc. and postal operator EMS. The startup closed several funding tranches in the first half of the year, Guan said.
