---
title: "Weekly AI Worldview | LiblibAI Raises Hundreds of Millions RMB; Canva Buys Leonardo.AI; Character.AI CEO Returns to Google"
author: "Unique Research"
sourcePublication: "Unique Research (FFCAP English library)"
originalPublishedAt: "2024-08-05T16:00:00+08:00"
canonical: "https://ffcap.cn/en/research/20240805a05jn300"
source: "https://ffcap.cn/en/research/20240805a05jn300"
language: "en"
cnSourceUrl: "https://view.inews.qq.com/a/20240805A05JN300"
---

# Weekly AI Worldview | LiblibAI Raises Hundreds of Millions RMB; Canva Buys Leonardo.AI; Character.AI CEO Returns to Google

_Unique Research · Company / Weekly digest · August 5, 2024_

## China funding

**Astribot (星尘智能)** — AI robots; **tens of millions USD Pre-A** led by Matrix Partners China; Daotong, Qinghui, and existing Yunqi follow; China Renaissance FA. Founded Dec 2022; generalist robot assistant (fold, sort, cook…); research/logistics/smart manufacturing partners; first-gen product targeted 2024. (Matrix)

**LiblibAI (哩布哩布AI)** — AI image platform; **hundreds of millions RMB** round (title item; body light on terms).

## Overseas funding

**Lakera** (Switzerland) — genAI app security / prompt firewall; **$20M Series A** led by Atomico. Product Lakera Guard (low-latency AI app firewall); trained on public sets + internal research + Gandalf game data.

**IntelePeer** — AI communications automation; **$140M** growth equity + debt (Savant Growth + VantagePoint; Vector Velocity debt). 600M+ automated interactions; ~65% call self-service automation.

**BrandRank.AI** — AI brand search analytics; **$1.2M** angel/seed (oversubscribed): Sandberg Bernthal VP, Mercury Fund; John & Francie Pepper; Jack & Peg Wyant. 6 enterprise clients in ~4 months (incl. Nestlé, IABBB). Gartner: organic brand search traffic −50%+ by 2028.

**Bee AI** — wearable AI assistant; **$7M** led by Exor (incl. prior $1.5M pre-seed); Greycroft, New Wave, Banana Capital, Brian Bedol. Listen/notes/reminders + Apple Watch app; “cloud phone” ambitions. (TechCrunch)

**Sybill** — AI sales assistant (CRM notes, follow-ups); **$11M Series A**; cumulative $14.5M; 500+ customers; ARR crossed $1M. CEO Gorish Aggarwal et al. (Forbes)

**Heeyo** — AI education ages 3–11 (chatbot + 2,000+ activities); **$3.5M seed** from OpenAI Startup Fund, Alexa Fund, Pear VC; live on Android/iOS globally. (TechCrunch)

## M&A / product

**Canva × Leonardo.AI** — acquires AU genAI content/research startup (undisclosed). <2 years old; **19M** registered users; ~120-person team stays to boost Canva genAI; Leonardo platform continues. Deal reportedly above Leonardo’s prior **$80M** valuation; possible ACCC review. Phoenix model for multi-style image/video. Canva: 190M+ actives, 16M paid; prior buys Affinity, Flourish, Kaleido/remove.bg.

**Meta AI Studio** — U.S. launch of creator/business AI-assistant builder (WhatsApp/Instagram context); auto-replies with transparency controls.

**Reddit × Memorable AI** — acquires ad-creative optimization genAI to lift advertiser CTR/engagement/brand lift/ROAS. COO Jen Wong; Memorable co-founder Sebastian Acevedo.

## People

**Noam Shazeer** (Character.AI CEO) returns to Google/DeepMind with co-founder Daniel De Freitas + staff; GC Dominic Perella interim CEO. Non-exclusive tech deal + more funding for Character.AI (a16z-backed; >$150M raised). Shazeer previously led LaMDA work at Google.

**President Yoon Suk Yeol** meets **Andrew Ng** — invites Ng to Korea’s national AI committee global advisory; Ng sees path to “#3 AI power.” (Yonhap)

**Tu Weiwei** (ex-4Paradigm VP) founds Artificial Productivity Tech — AI hardware/robots; Paradigm Fund + SenseTime Guoxiang. (Baoliaotai)

**Li Yansong** (ex-iQIYI Pictures president) — Planet Rotation / FeedFlow AI short-drama for EN markets; IP rewrite + reverse video→script. No public raise. (Baoliaotai)

**Wang Shimu** (ex-Tencent News GM / NetEase Cloud Music) — Seele (全灵); multimodal 3D LLM **EVA-01** (text/image/video → 3D in ~10s); tens-of-millions RMB seed. (Baoliaotai)

**Yang Yan** (ex-Meizu SVP / Flyme) — Shenzhen Qunqing; next-gen AI HCI terminal; hiring design + LLM talent. (Baoliaotai)

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Editorial English edition published on UniqueCapital: https://ffcap.cn/en/research/20240805a05jn300
On-site reading page: https://ffcap.cn/en/research/20240805a05jn300