Monolith
Monolith is a venture fund co-founded by Cao Xi, who left Sequoia China in 2021 to start the firm with Tim Wang, a former secondary-market partner at Boyu Capital . The name references the black monolith from *2001: A Space Odyssey*—Cao has described it as representing "the ultimate truth and wisdom of the universe," reflecting the team's curiosity about business and world fundamentals .
The firm began with a hedge fund structure before returning to Cao's roots in venture capital a year later, focusing on early-stage technology investments . In November 2025, Monolith closed its second USD VC fund and first RMB VC fund at $488 million combined, with total assets under management exceeding 10 billion RMB . This marked its shift from a pure-USD to a dual-currency structure, with the RMB fund positioned to capture domestic opportunities in hardware, robotics, and chips while the USD fund continues targeting global AI models and applications .
Monolith's portfolio centers on AI across the stack: Moonshot AI (where Cao had known founder Yang Zhilin since his Tsinghua days), GPU company MetaX (which has passed IPO review), and robotics bets like Stardust Innovation and LeXiang Technology . The firm ranked fourth globally in Preqin's 2025 performance rankings for the $250M-$490M AUM category, and Cao placed 39th on Forbes' Midas List for his early investments in Kuaishou and Unitree . Monolith runs what it calls a "sniper" approach—"finding alpha" rather than chasing macro beta—with its investment team drawn from AI, hardware, and product backgrounds .
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