Ling Technology

Ling Technology (物灵科技) is an AI hardware company founded by Gu Jiawei after he left Baidu in 2016, per a 暗涌Waves profile . Gu was previously part of Baidu's "Young Marshal" talent program, where he led development of projects including BaiduEye, DuBike, and DuLight . The company gained recognition for Luka (卢卡), an AI-powered children's picture-book reading robot that became one of the earlier consumer smart hardware products to go global from China, with sales reaching nearly 10 million units across 18 countries as of late 2025 . Gu's background spans both technical product development and investing—before and during Ling Technology's early phase, he also deployed roughly 2 billion RMB in robot investments including Jibo, Rethink Robotics, and KnightScope through an A-share listed company . More recently, Gu has been associated with "Ling Universe" (灵宇宙), which 暗涌Waves described as raising 200 million RMB in new funding in November 2025 to build what it calls an "AI world operating system" .