<div id="readability-page-1"><div>BEIJING/SINGAPORE, April 10 (Reuters) - Chinese artificial intelligence startup ShengShu Technology has raised 2 billion yuan ($292.59 million) in a funding round ‌led by Alibaba Cloud, the company said on Friday, as ‌competition intensifies in China's AI sector.ShengShu said the funding would support development of a &#34;general world ​model&#34; that processes sensory information to simulate human perception and interaction, which the company describes as a step toward artificial general intelligence in physical environments.The company did not provide a timeline for when such a system ‌would be commercially available.Chinese companies ⁠ranging from industry giants like ByteDance to startups such as humanoid robot specialist Unitree have begun exploring similar &#34;world ⁠model&#34; technologies.ShengShu said the funding round included investments from Andon Haitang, China Internet Investment Fund, TAL Education Group, and Luminous Ventures. Existing investors LINK-X CAPITAL, ​Delta ​Capital, and Baidu Ventures also increased ​their stakes.Founded in early 2023 ‌by Tsinghua University alum Zhu Jun, ShengShu became the first Chinese company to release a video generation model when it launched Vidu in April 2024.The model was positioned as a competitor to OpenAI's Sora, which the U.S. company later discontinued.ShengShu has since released several updated versions of ‌Vidu, including the Vidu Q3 model announced ​earlier this year.The company has also recently ​expanded into robotics applications. In ​December 2025, it open-sourced Motus, a model designed to ‌control robots by processing multimodal ​data including video and ​audio.The startup faces competition from Chinese technology giants including ByteDance, Alibaba and Kuaishou, which have all launched video generation models.Internationally, companies ​such as Google and ‌startups including Runway are also developing similar technologies.($1 = 6.8355 Chinese ​yuan renminbi)(Reporting by Liam Mo in Beijing and Miyoung Kim ​in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed)</div></div>

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Chinese AI startup ShengShu Technology has raised 2 billion yuan ($292.59 million) in a funding round led by Alibaba Cloud. The funds will support the development of a "general world model" aimed at simulating human perception, a step towards artificial general intelligence. Investors included Andon Haitang, China Internet Investment Fund, and TAL Education Group. Founded in 2023, ShengShu is known for its video generation model Vidu, competing with OpenAI's Sora. The company is also expanding into robotics, having open-sourced a model for robot control.

- Chinese AI startup ShengShu Technology has raised 2 billion yuan ($292.59 million) in funding led by Alibaba Cloud to develop a "general world model" for simulating human perception.  
- The funding attracted investments from firms including Andon Haitang and TAL Education Group, as well as existing backers like Baidu Ventures.  
- ShengShu, founded in 2023, aims to advance its video generation technology and expand into robotics, amidst rising competition from both domestic and international companies.

Chinese startup ShengShu raises $293 million to advance artificial general intelligence