China generative AI player LangBoat gets pre-Series A

The size of the round was not disclosed. Sinovation stated in a WeChat post that LangBoat has raised several hundreds of millions of renminbi (RMB 100m equals USD 15m) in the past 12 months.

Incubated by Sinovation in June 2021, LangBoat specialises in large language models (LLMs) based on natural language processing (NLP). The company’s key asset is a LLM called MChat, which has abilities in conversation, translation, content generation, and information extraction.

MChat claims to be more affordable than OpenAI’s GPT series, which gained widespread attention with the release of ChatGPT late last year. It can support models with as few as 1bn parameters - compared to the 170bn parameters typically used by GPT - which makes it less expensive to operate. MChat can offer large models of 100bn parameters depending on the client.

MChat is compatible with different infrastructures, including GPT and Google’s Bert, but claims an edge based on its better understanding of the Chinese language and consequent applicability to very specific use cases or industries.

LangBoat supplies several enterprise-level solutions to China-based companies, including financial analysis, multi-language translation, marketing content generation, and an assistant for the writing of online literature.

AI is an area of special interest for Sinovation. Kai-Fu Lee, the firm's founder, today announced on WeChat that he plans to launch Project AI 2.0, the seventh AI company incubated by Sinovation.

AInnovation, another product of the firm's incubation efforts, completed a HKD 1.18bn (USD 151m) IPO in Hong Kong last year. The company develops proprietary computer vision and machine learning AI technologies for the manufacturing and financial service sectors.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Early-stage
• China
• Eight Roads
• Sinovation Ventures
• artificial intelligence