Exclusive | LiblibAI Raises $130 Million, Led by Hongshan and CMC

"Go big or go home." By Jiaxiang Shi

Anying Waves has learned exclusively that LiblibAI recently closed a $130 million Series B round, jointly led by Hongshan, CMC Capital, and a major strategic corporate investor.

This marks the largest publicly announced funding round in China's AI application space so far this year — the previous record-holder being Manus, which raised $80 million at a $500 million valuation.

Last month, LiblibAI released version 2.0, officially evolving from a model community into a one-stop AI creation studio. The company's aggressive business expansion has been matched by an equally aggressive fundraising pace.

According to Anying Waves, LiblibAI has not yet achieved full profitability across its overall business, which may partially explain why it chose to raise again. But as one person familiar with the matter explained, in a VC feeding frenzy around agents, "cash is the bigger moat."

Boundless giants — under the crushing pressure of model providers, AI application entrepreneurs have come to understand this business rule more deeply than ever. Today, capital is aggregating at unprecedented speed. The launch of OpenAI's Sora App has only reinforced LiblibAI's conviction in choosing to raise again: if you can't scale faster, you don't have a shot.

This brutal realization stems in part from the team's near-death experience in its early days.

Initially, LiblibAI raised a $3.5 million angel round at a $15 million valuation from GSR Ventures, Gaorong Capital, and Source Code Capital. At the time, they believed, "raise a round, then focus on building the business."

That was September 2023, just four months after LiblibAI's launch. The platform was pulled from app stores for failing to complete large model registration requirements. Meanwhile, to capture market leadership, the company had burned through over $3 million in subsidies. By March 2024, only 4,000 RMB remained in the bank.

During this period, they met with virtually every investor they could reach. The result: not a single firm was willing to invest in LiblibAI at its $30 million valuation.

Finally, an internet strategic investor provided the lifeline.

This experience changed LiblibAI's perspective on fundraising. Within just a few months, the company completed three consecutive rounds totaling over $20 million, led by Mingshi Capital, INCE Capital, and Shunwei Capital. By then, their thinking had shifted to: "prepare to stockpile tens of millions of dollars for the next two to three years."

At its darkest hour, LiblibAI turned down multiple acquisition offers. The reason, as the story goes: "we didn't start this company to be entrepreneurs — we started it to win."

In the previous era, a company could "win from behind after ten years." But now, exorbitant compute and user acquisition costs mean that without money, it's nearly impossible to deliver services at scale.

The AI application battlefield has entered a Matthew Effect phase — only one voice remains in each track. No one wants to be number two.

Image source | IC Photo

Money flows, people rise and fall.