This is the largest single funding round in China’s AI video generation sector to date.
Aishi Technology (爱诗科技) has recently closed a US$300 million Series C round, led by CDH Investments (鼎晖投资), with participation from more than 20 investors. Backers include entertainment-sector strategic investors such as China Ruyi (中国儒意) and 37 Interactive Entertainment (三七互娱), local state-backed funds including Yizhuang State Investment (亦庄国投) and Su Venture Capital (苏创投), as well as overseas institutions such as UOB Venture Management (大华银行旗下 UOB Venture Management) and the Lion X Fund (新加坡华侨银行旗下 Lion X 基金).
Aishi Technology (爱诗科技) reported that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) exceeded US$40 million by the end of 2025. According to information the company disclosed in October last year, the combined user base of its mobile apps PixVerse (overseas version) and Paiwo AI (拍我 AI) had already surpassed 100 million users, with more than 16 million monthly active users (MAU).
According to public reports and available data, among AI startups with Chinese backgrounds, only a handful have surpassed US$50 million in ARR, including Manus, Lovart, Genspark, and HeyGen.
Most video-generation companies or products—such as Runway, Kuaishou’s Kling (可灵), Shengshu Technology, and MiniMax’s Hailuo (海螺)—primarily serve professional content creators, delivering their services mainly through web-based platforms.
Aishi also operates in this segment. However, starting in the second half of 2024, the company began focusing more heavily on consumer-facing products (C-end). In Q4 2024, it launched the mobile video generation and sharing app PixVerse. Meanwhile, ByteDance’s Jimeng (即梦) began internal testing in March of the same year, initially focusing on image generation. Another widely discussed product, Sora App, was launched later in October 2025.
In terms of model innovation, Aishi’s latest development came in January this year with the release of PixVerse R1. The model enables real-time generation and supports infinitely extending visual scenes, a capability enabled by autoregressive architectures.
The concept of “real-time generation + infinite canvas” has long been discussed within the video generation field, as it could unlock new experiences such as interactive content and generative games.
Other companies exploring this direction include Sand.ai and Vivix AI. Sand.ai was founded by Cao Yue, co-founder of Light Year AI, and in March 2025 open-sourced the MAGI-1 video generation model built on autoregressive technology. Vivix AI was founded by Liu Yu, former Executive Research Director at SenseTime, and focuses on real-time interactive multimodal content.
After Seedance 2.0 went viral and drew widespread attention, pressure quickly spread across other video generation companies. Xie Xuzhang, co-founder of Aishi, said the company also felt some anxiety. However, based on user data, the impact of Seedance 2.0 on Aishi appears limited.