Unique Research · Company / Weekly Digest · August 26, 2024
Ingest note: ~13 CN images; attach on ingest. Event signup CTA omitted.
China funding
Zhongke Ruijian (中科睿鉴) — AI forged-content detection; near ¥100M raise, sole investor Fortune Capital (达晨财智). Detects deepfakes / AIGC / PS across audio-visual-text for regulators, enterprises, individuals. ICT-CAS–background team; patents + papers. Mar 2023: 6B-param multimodal detector “Ruijian Turing” (MoE over vertical detectors). Avg accuracy >90% on multiple mainstream image/video generators; more consumer tools planned.
Overseas funding
Opkey — AI ERP continuous-testing platform; $47M Series B led by PeakSpan (existing follow). Founders ex-Adobe/Oracle. Tracks ERP integrations/updates + user uptake of new features. Supports Oracle, Workday, Coupa, Veeva, Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, UKG, Trackwise.
Story — IP blockchain for content ownership/licensing amid AI training disputes; $80M Series B incl. a16z crypto → val $2.25B. CEO S.Y. Lee (ex-Radish). 200+ teams / 20M+ addressable IP registrations via Ablo, Sekai, Magma. Commercial product later this year.
SleekFlow — Asia social-commerce / conversational AI; $7M to deepen AI + expand SEA / Middle East / Europe. Lead: Atinum Investment (+ existing). New CTO Gao Lei (Silicon Valley). Omnichannel chat + marketing automation; verticals insurance / healthcare / telecom / retail. APAC social commerce projected >$894M by 2028 (CN cite).
Eppo — AI model eval & customization / experimentation (ex-Airbnb DS Chetan Sharma); $28M Series B led by Innovation Endeavors → val $138M; cumulative $47.5M. Contextual bandits for auto variant discovery. Customers: Twitch, SurveyMonkey, DraftKings, Coinbase, Descript, Perplexity. Headcount 45 → ~65 by year-end. Context: Gartner — half of AI leaders unsure how to prove AI ROI.
Defcon AI — military logistics software (ML + math optimization for aircraft, crews, rest/fuel, cargo); $44M seed led by Bessemer. Co-founded 2022 by Gen. Paul Selva (ret. USAF / TRANSCOM) + two others. ~$15M gov contracts; combat-ready software in <2 years.
China events
TuSimple formally enters generative AI apps — partnership with Shanghai Three-Body Animation on The Three-Body Problem animated film + games (licensed IP). New GenAI business unit board-approved; will use AV large-model + data infra. CEO Cheng Lu: not exiting transport — continue AV commercialization via tech partnerships/licensing. Addressable animation + games market >$600B cited.
Overseas events
AMD to acquire server designer ZT Systems for $4.9B cash+stock (75%/25%); close expected H1 2025. ZT among largest private AI train/infer infra providers; >$10B annual revenue. Lisa Su: sell manufacturing; keep system design — path to full AI systems provider (after Silo AI buy). AMD +4.5% / Nvidia +4.4% on news; analysts flag margin risk if not AI-system-focused.
SK hynix H1 2024 sales ₩28.85T — China 29.8% / U.S. 55.4% of sales. China sales >2× YoY; U.S. nearly 3× on AI / Big Tech demand. DRAM/NAND price lifts + HBM & enterprise SSD. Wuxi DRAM, Chongqing backend, Dalian NAND profitable; U.S. sales co back to profit.
SK Telecom × Rebellions merge to build ₩1T+ AI chip player. SKT sub Sapion Korea merges with Rebellions (CEO Park Sung-hyun; two chips in 3 years; ₩300M investment cited). EV ratio Sapion:Rebellions = 1:2.4; keep “Rebellions” name under Rebellions management. SKT / SK hynix / SK Square to sell some shares so management stays in control.
People
Andrew Ng steps down as CEO of Landing AI (founded 2017); COO Dan Maloney becomes CEO; Ng → Executive Chairman. Recent: AI Fund plans another $120M; Ng named Amazon board member.
Huang Yingning (ex-4Paradigm AIOS GM; PKU machine perception) founds BeiPei Tech (贝陪科技) — AI LLM education companion toys. Top-tier China VC; team from Tsinghua / PKU / Stanford. (Baoliaotai)
Wang Weiwei (ex-Alibaba DAMO chief architect; NJU CS + Tsinghua MBA; Baidu smart-customer-service GM; 30+ NLP patents) founded DamaiCha (2023), angel-funded; building multimodal video tool OctaAI (diffusion-based image gen/edit; in-house stack). (Baoliaotai exclusive)
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