Kai Yu

Kai Yu is the founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, a Chinese autonomous-driving chipmaker that went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and reached a market capitalization exceeding RMB 100 billion . He established the company in 2015 after leaving Baidu, where he had led autonomous driving efforts, with the aim of building "brains for robots" through dedicated edge-computing chips . Before entering industry he pursued an academic path in artificial intelligence, publishing over 100 papers and working at Siemens and NEC Research, with stints in Germany and the United States . In his public persona he presents himself as a scientist-founder who deliberately embraces long-term uncertainty while minimizing visible risk—what ZhenFund described as "daring to embrace the unknown, but hating risk" . He cites Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Duan Yongping as his idols, framing entrepreneurship itself as a form of investment decision-making . His early backing came from Linear Capital's Harry Wang, who became his first investor and later helped connect the deal to Hillhouse and 5Y Capital .