<div id="readability-page-1" class="page"><div id="parent_top_div">Vast, a 3D-modeling startup founded by a 29-year-old gamer, raised nearly $200 million to become the latest Chinese AI outfit to achieve a valuation of $1 billion. Ince Capital and a venture fund backed by China Life Insurance Co. led the financing, the Beijing-based startup said in a statement. Other investors in the round included Genesis Capital and existing backers Eminence Ventures and Primavera Venture Partners. While the company declined to disclose its exact valuation, it said the figure now exceeds $1 billion. The firm — also backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. — develops Tripo Studio, which helps developers and creative professionals generate 3D models from text and image prompts. It charges a monthly subscription starting at $20, plus fees based on token consumption. The bulk of its 20 million users hail from the US, followed by Europe, Japan and South Korea, founder Simon Song told Bloomberg News. He says Vast could turn a profit within two years. Vast competes with Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Hunyuan 3D and Silicon Valley startup Meshy in the development of production-grade 3D models for video games, filmmaking, 3D printing and industrial applications. These platforms aim to replace traditional software with generative workflows similar to AI chatbots and video generators. Yet commercially viable breakthroughs remain rare in a $200 billion gaming industry — potentially its most lucrative market — that remains largely skeptical of the technology. “When people discuss foundation models, the conversation is almost always about language models,” Song said. “But in my view, 3D models are the most foundational because they are an uncompressed reflection of the real world.” Vast said its latest P-series model generates game-ready assets with low-polygon frameworks – bypassing an AI limitation that usually requires hours of manual editing before a model can be used. The company is also set to release a world model, called Project Eden, as soon as this month — a tool that generates fully explorable 3D environments rather than just flat video frames. The startup is aiming for something similar to the Marble platform developed by computer vision pioneer Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs. Vast is already deploying its technology through a partnership with Chinese gaming giant NetEase Inc. In the role-playing game Where Winds Meet, players can upload photos to instantly generate interactive 3D avatars. Beyond corporate deals, the 150-person outfit is aiming for mass-consumer adoption with an upcoming app that Song calls an “interactive TikTok.” Instead of scrolling through short videos, users will play bite-sized, interactive experiences on the platform. “The internet’s third revolution could be interactive content — where AI generates tailored material and 3D becomes the main new medium,” said Joy Dai, a managing director with backer Eminence. Song founded Vast in 2023, teaming up with technologists from his days at AI firm SenseTime Group Inc. Before that, he was a founding member of large-language-model developer MiniMax Group Inc., but his passion for animation and gaming led him to focus solely on the then-overlooked market for 3D models. He majored in international studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he spent entire days playing the strategy game Civilization. “Simon is the type of CEO China’s tech-driven startups desperately need,” said Steven Hu, a founding partner of Ince Capital. “He’s so infectiously optimistic that at first, he sounded a bit unrealistic — very much an American-style entrepreneur.”</div></div>

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Vast, a Beijing-based 3D-modeling startup founded by Simon Song, has raised nearly $200 million in funding led by Ince Capital and a China Life-backed fund. This investment values the company at over $1 billion, making it China's latest AI unicorn. Backed by Alibaba and Baidu, Vast develops Tripo Studio for generating 3D models from text and images, serving 20 million users primarily in the US. The company aims to turn a profit within two years and competes with Tencent and Meshy in the generative AI space.

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Gen-Z gamer's 3D-model startup raises $200 mn, becomes China's AI unicorn