Monolith
Monolith (砺思资本) is a Chinese venture fund founded in 2021 by Cao Xi, who left Sequoia China, and Tim Wang, a former Boyu Capital secondary-market partner . It is an AI-focused investor with a concentrated book — best known as Moonshot AI's earliest backer, having invested across three consecutive rounds and at one point putting 15% of a fund's position into the company, and as an early investor in MetaX, the domestic GPU maker that later passed its STAR Market IPO review . By its fourth anniversary in late 2025, it had closed an oversubscribed dual-currency raise — roughly $288M in USD plus ~RMB 1.2B in its first renminbi fund, about $488M total, with market-based LPs dominating the RMB vehicle — bringing AUM past RMB 10 billion . That same year it ranked fourth on Preqin's worldwide top-performing VC list and placed Cao Xi at No. 38 on the Forbes Midas List, second among Chinese investors . Notably, as one market recap put it, foreign coverage framed the raise not as Monolith's own story but as "Kimi's heavyweight fund raising $500M" — the fund is still largely read through its star holdings .
AI-generated — may contain errors, please verify.
Coverage
Trace Intelligence Secures Over 100 Million Yuan in Funding: Fudan PhD Aims to Customize Inference Chips for Diverse Edge Scenarios | Yunqi Partners
Moving from method validation to commercial delivery
To Give Away 100 Pieces of Clothing, We Hand-Built a Website with Moonshot AI
First come, first served
The Eve of BrainGPT?
When AI Starts Reading Minds
Moving Forward Along New Coordinates｜Vital Monthly
Advisory Vitality
The Full Story of Alibaba's Investment in Moonshot AI
Game Changer.
Unitree Funding Story Exhibition
Ancient stories always carry a special kind of allure.
Vivix: Starting from a Place Where No One Believed
The scaling of real-time interactive models hasn't really begun yet.
Meshy Closes Nearly $400 Million Funding Round, Expanding From AI 3D to AI for Fun
A system capable of producing content sustainably
Meshy Closes Nearly $400 Million Series B, Source Code Capital Continues to Double Down
Source Code Capital led the company's Series A round in 2021, and continued to increase its investment in subsequent rounds, providing long-term support for the company's growth.
AI longevity biotech startup EonArk raises two rounds in one month, with Unity Ventures leading seed+ round | Unity Ventures portfolio
Oxford PhD Launches Startup, Using Data, AI, and Biotechnology to Explore the Future of Longevity and Health
Oxus: AI Prospecting, Turning Stone to Gold
This technology can find gold, but that's not what we're after.
Even Realities: A Good Pair of Glasses, and the Beginning of a New Category
How a Pair of Camera-Free Smart Glasses Became a Unicorn
ZhenFund angel project Lxson completes nearly 500 million RMB Pre-A funding round, launches home embodied intelligence brand "Zeroth"
Outstanding orders have surpassed 30,000 units, securing an early foothold at a critical entry point for home embodied intelligence.
ZhenFund angel project "OMOWAY" closes two consecutive funding rounds, becomes Indonesia's top electric motorcycle brand by orders in its first month on the market
Shared mobility is entering the intelligent 3.0 era.
From Medallion to AI-Native Asset Management: GIM Closes Three Funding Rounds
Will a Century-Old Asset Management Industry Be Rewritten by AI?
A quick announcement: elsewhere now has a website.
Currently in beta — welcome to try it out.
5Y News | AI-Native Investment Management Firm GIM Closes Tens of Millions of Dollars in Series A Funding
Model capabilities, agent capabilities, and closed-loop research capabilities.
The DeepSeek Financing Story
"The world was always meant to be this way."
OriginFlow's Shentao Qin: Restrained Desires Reveal Deeper Truths
At 25, He Wants to Turn the Human Body Into the Biggest Data Source for Robots
Monolith's Xi Cao Named to Forbes 2026 Midas List
Made the list for two consecutive years on the strength of investments in MetaX, Unitree, and other companies.
The Unforgettable Series C Funding of Moonshot AI
A stroke of genius.
MatriQ Atomic Matrix Raises Three Consecutive Rounds of Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Six Months, Accelerating Toward Logical Qubits and Commercial Delivery | Unity Ventures Portfolio News
Achieving an engineering breakthrough that is demonstrable, verifiable, and iterable.
May in Shenzhen, Let's Rock and Roll | AI Nao Hunting Night, Night Three
The Hunt, Night Three: Shenzhen
The Only Proper Way to Run a Hackathon Is in an Internet Café
The First Cyber Café Hackathon to Be Held in Beijing on May 30
Immortality: Starting with Dogs
Death is not an inevitable law of nature — just an engineering problem.
Metis Pharmaceuticals lists today, marking Monolith's first HKEX IPO
The scientist who pitched in a KFC just went public today.
Tiangong Kaiwu: The Fifth Paradigm
A Material, An Industry
"You've got a shovel that can dig up gold — you're definitely not lending it out first" | A Conversation with Kaiwuji's Lu Ziheng: Using AI to Invent New Materials
As long as you're still stirring things up, there's still hope.
"You wouldn't lend out a shovel that can dig up gold" | A Conversation with Lu Ziheng of Kaiwu Ji: Using AI to Invent New Materials
After Raising $30 Million, This Company Handed the "Steering Wheel" to AI | An Interview with CREAO
AI for the Employee, or the Employee for AI?
Yunqi Capital Backs CREAO AI's Pre-A Round with Tens of Millions of Dollars to Rebuild the Work Entry Point with Agent OS | Yunqi Portfolio
Betting on a Better Cycle
Vibe Coding Should Start From Childhood
A new generation is already entering elsewhere.
AI Unicorn Factory
Script, catfish, loop, rainmaker, role model, results.
"OdyssLife" Closes Nearly 200 Million Yuan in New Funding, Linear Capital Continues to Double Down | Linear Portfolio
The world's first smart wearable hardware product for dietary monitoring.
BlueRun Ventures Angel Portfolio Company Kaimat Completes Hundreds of Millions of RMB in Angel+ Round, Building AI4S-Driven Materials Intelligence Infrastructure | BlueRun Family
Achieving efficient materials translation from "discovery" to "mass production"
5Y News｜GIM Closes Angel Round of Tens of Millions of RMB
GIM Raises Tens of Millions of RMB in Angel Round
2026 VC Promotion Roundup
Universal celebration.
Long-Horizon Autonomous Agents: The Birth of a New Species
Generals are scarce; soldiers come free.
Two thousand years after the thunder of hooves at the Wolf Mountain victory, that same conquering echo resounds in the age of AI.
The Best Era for Young People
MONOLITH in Everyone's Eyes — Striving to Be a Honey Badger
Transparent, sincere, truth-seeking
We now have an Agent on Moltbook.
Let the Token Fly a Little Longer
After OpenClaw, What Are We Still Missing for Agents That Can Scale?
How Can Agents Actually Be Put into Practice
As investors, we took Moonshot AI's K2.5 for a spin.
More Than "All-Powerful"
Looking for the Next Gen Roblox
In gaming, we should always maintain a sense of reverence for what makes something genuinely fun.
Dancing with Love, Zhang Huaiting: Staying a Calm "Value Builder" Amid the AI Hype
Make decisions toward your goals, not away from your difficulties.
A Conversation with Huaiting Zhang of Yuaiweiwu: The Veteran Founder Who Doesn't Take Detours | BlueRun Ventures Family Spotlight
"Founders never truly fail."
The Fundraising Stories of China's "Six Little Tigers": Six Paths, Six Lives
If Kimi ever goes public, will the bell-ringing photo look very different?
Heading into 2026 with MONOLITH
Happy New Year!
Where Did the Money Go? Who's Still Writing Checks? A 2025 VC Debrief With Jing Liu
VC takes a certain amount of instinct.
Will AI Hardware Get Its Own iPhone? | Mono X
All unprofitable hardware innovation is, at its core, a false proposition.
Monolith Portfolio Company MetaX Lists on STAR Market
We have deep conviction in both the explosive growth potential and long-term staying power of China's domestic computing power market.
Kill the Candlestick? This Startup Wants to Make the Stock Market "Speak Human" | BlueRun Ventures Family Headlines
Building an AI-Native All-in-One Trading Platform
Innovation Often Happens Where No One Has Gone Before | 5Y News Monthly
The big news from last month.
Entrepreneurship Is the Most Hardcore Way for Young People to Change the World | Mono X Campus
Be a long-term partner to founders, not a short-term "referee."
I think the sun will shine bright tomorrow morning | Opening Remarks
Maybe wrong, always fun.
Hypershell Raises $70 Million, Oasis Capital Increases Its Stake | Oasis Vitality
Counselor Vitality / Counselor on Vitality (Note: This appears to be a title or heading without surrounding context. "参赞" can mean "counselor/advisor" or "to participate in and assist," while "生命力" means "vitality/life force." The interpretation depends on context — it could be a role title like "Counselor on Vitality," a section header like "The Vitality of Counselors," or a verb phrase like "Contributing to Vitality." Additional context would help determine the precise rendering.)
5Y News｜Hypershell Raises $70 Million in Pre-B and Series B Funding
Leading the Consumer Exoskeleton Into a New Era
Hypershell Raises $70 Million Across Two Funding Rounds
Empower people to act, and expand the horizons of their world.
Hypershell Closes Two Rounds Totaling $70 Million in Funding
Toward a Future Where Everyone Is "Iron Man"?
BlueRun Ventures Continues to Back RockFlow in New Tens-of-Millions USD Funding Round | BlueRun Family
Make investing accessible to everyone.
Four years after its last close, Source Code Capital has raised another fund.
Dual-currency, $600 million.
MONOLITH Turns Four: Dual-Currency Fund Oversubscribed, Continued Focus on Early-Stage Startups
Finding the Best Companies in the Biggest Shifts
Monolith Raises $488 Million in New Funding
Assets under management exceed 10 billion RMB.
Moonshot AI K2 Thinking: When an "Interleaved Thinking" Model Steps Into the Spotlight, What Actually Changes?
Greater commercial freedom, lower migration costs
Monolith portfolio company MetaX Technology passes IPO review on STAR Market
A landmark event in the capitalization of China's domestic GPU industry
Why Are Young People Always the Drivers of Tech Revolutions | MonoX Event Registration
Where do great stories begin?
Lxson Completes 200 Million Yuan Angel++ Round, Continues Focus on Consumer-Grade Embodied Intelligence Product Development
Accelerating the Mass-Market Scale-Up of Consumer Embodied AI Products
MaKe | MaHui Member "Starmax Innovation Beatbot" Secures 1 Billion RMB in Funding, Opening a New Chapter for Yard Robots
Starpath Innovation's Beatbot Raises Over 1 Billion Yuan in New Funding, Monolith Continues Backing
Entering the Smart Lawn Mower Robot Space
The SpaceX of Pharma: Caida Lai's Nanorocket
Only those with fire in their eyes can build rockets.
The Next Step in Intelligence Enhancement: Is Agent a Patch or the Future? | MonoX
The Value Hierarchy of Large Model Training Is Quietly Being Rewritten
The AI Investment Mid-Game: Talent Wars, Faith Divides, and Super Opportunities
I notice you've entered a period/full stop (。) with no Chinese text to translate. Please provide the Chinese content you'd like me to translate, and I'll be happy to help.
MiAO Secures Over 100 Million Yuan Investment from X.D. Network
Core focus: high-DAU evergreen games
Monolith Enters Strategic Talent Partnership with *MIT Technology Review* China
Spotting the founders who will reshape the future before anyone else does.
Yunqi Capital | "Creao AI" Closes Two Consecutive Rounds of Tens of Millions of Dollars in Funding, with Yunqi Capital as Sole Angel Round Investor
Agentic OS Unlocks a New Paradigm for Agent Collaboration
The Ultimate Core of Gaming + AI Is Fun | MonoX
What is the soul of a gaming experience?
The Future Never Favors the Spectator | Monolith Monthly
Document every step forward.
When the investors of Ning Wang, Xingxing Wang, and Junjie Zhang sat down together
What makes a "newly made person" new?
Yuaiweiwu Lin Wang: From Education Going Online to Going Intelligent — When Will the AI-Powered All-Capable Personal Tutor Arrive? | Gaorong Future
"Yuaiweiwu" — dancing with love, and dancing with AI.
How AI Is Reshaping the Gaming Experience | MonoX Indie Spotlight
July 7–11, see you in Shanghai
MONOLITH Intern Recruitment | See the Future Together
Intern Recruitment for Primary and Secondary Market Teams
The Wind Still Howls Where No One Stands | Monolith Monthly
Every step is worth recording.
The Answer Isn't on the Old Map | 5Y News Monthly
The big news from last month.
Xi Cao of Monolith Named to Forbes 2025 Midas List
First-time appearance on the list thanks to early-stage investments in Kuaishou and Unitree
5Y News | D-Robotics Closes $100 Million Series A to Accelerate Embodied AI Ecosystem Buildout
Accelerating the intelligent evolution of robots.
Deebot Robotics Closes $100 Million Series A, Monolith Co-Leads
The "Common Choice" of Robot Developers Worldwide
D-Robotics Raises $100 Million in Series A Funding to Accelerate Embodied Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem Expansion | Unity Ventures Portfolio Addition
The "Top Player" in the Embodied Artificial Intelligence Infra Track
"D-Robotics Closes $100 Million Series A to Accelerate Embodied Intelligence Ecosystem Build-Out | Linear Portfolio"
From Horizon Robotics' earliest backer to Digua's earliest backer.
Lxson Closes Nine-Figure RMB "Angel+" Round, Raising Two Rounds in Three Months
Building the Home Mobile Hardware Terminal for the AI Era
Even Realities: The First Eye
The subject of smart glasses can only be glasses, and nothing else.
Monolith ranked among the top 30 best foreign VC firms on the ChinaVenture list in Q1, among 27 total honors.
Every achievement owes itself to the founders' foresight and hands-on execution.
No matter how the world changes, *Dark Tide* turns three.
Before the sun rises, Anyong will keep searching for answers alongside all of you.
Monolith入选Preqin「全球最佳业绩表现投资机构TOP4」 Monolith Selected as a Top 4 Global Best-Performing Investment Firm by Preqin
Walk alongside true value creators
Renjie Guo's AI Hardware Startup Lxson Closes Nearly RMB 200 Million Angel Round | Oasis Capital
Counselor Vitality / Counselor on Vitality (Note: "参赞生命力" appears to be a title or phrase without surrounding context. "参赞" can mean "counselor/advisor" (a diplomatic title) or "to participate in and assist." "生命力" means "vitality" or "life force." If this is a book title or article heading, it could be rendered as *Counseling Vitality* or *On Vitality* depending on the author's intent. Additional context would help determine the best translation.)
Lxson Raises Nearly RMB 200 Million in Angel Round, Co-Invested by Monolith
Embrace the best technology and the best partners
Walking Through 2024 With Monolith
Confidence is more precious than gold.
To AI Founders: In 2025, Go to These VCs for Funding | A Year-in-Review of the Primary Market with "An Yong" and Jing Liu
China's USD Funds Won't Disappear
Live long enough to long China.
A Conversation with Li Xiang: Throwing Questions at Someone Who's Always Asking
Reflections of a Lifelong Business Journalist
Monolith Turns Three: A Mountain of Ten Thousand Fathoms — Climbed One Step at a Time
Only the best is good enough.
Monolith ranked No. 1 on Preqin's list of top-performing VC USD funds.
Seizing the Biggest Opportunity in the Biggest Shift
We invested in large language models, AI applications, and embodied intelligence, but BlueRun Ventures still feels it hasn't FOMO'd hard enough.
The more optimistic doers.
MaHui Spotlight | MaHui Member Starmax Closes Over RMB 500 Million Series A, Existing Shareholder Source Code Capital Increases Stake
He opened up America with a streak of blue.
Chatting with Shengle Wang About Pool Robots, the US Market, and *Hillbilly Elegy*
All aboard! Crossing AI Research Fellow 24S
Let's go!
5Y News | 5Y Capital Portfolio Company METiS Pharmaceuticals Closes $100 Million Series C Round
Focused on "AI-powered drug delivery."
A Conversation with Liming Gao: The Zheng Huangs and Yiming Zhangs of the AI Era Are Already Starting Up
It takes ten years to figure it out, and one minute to pull the trigger.
Exclusive | Moonshot AI's valuation reaches $3 billion in new round; Tencent joins after Alibaba
A full list of Moonshot AI's investors to date.
A Conversation with Liu Zhiyu: Artificial Intelligence Can Attain Enlightenment Too
The rarest thing in this world is authenticity.
Zhilin Yang: Innovation, Long-Term Thinking, First Principles
I'll see you on the other side of the moon.
In less than six months, Moonshot AI's smart assistant has increased its capacity tenfold, now supporting 2 million characters of lossless context.
The Power of Focus
BlueRun Ventures Headlines | Zhilin Yang: Advancing Toward the Uncharted Snow-Capped Mountains
"If your ideal is something everyone can think of, it adds nothing to the total stock of human ideals."
Lisi Capital wishes everyone a happy Year of the Dragon!
Day by day, no effort is ever wasted.
Looking Back at 2023: The World Has Really Changed
These people and events reshaped 2023 — and will shape the years ahead.
Wang Yu of Tsinghua University: Lowering Costs Is Key to Commercializing Large Models
Solving the Last Mile for Large Model Deployment
Monolith Management Earns Multiple Honors in H2 2023 | Monolith Journey
Sailing alongside technology visionaries
Brain-Computer Interfaces, XR Chips Close Funding Rounds as New Products and Markets Open Fresh Chapters | Rongbao · October
Embrace the new era of growth.
November: Stay Curious and Imaginative | 5Y News Monthly
The big news from last month.
5Y News | GravityXR Closes Hundreds of Millions of RMB in Series A Funding to Advance Dedicated Chip for "XR Spatial Computing"
Create a brand-new world that blends the virtual and the real.
GravityXR has completed a Series A financing round of several hundred million RMB, led by Lisi Capital.
A Complete Transformation of Future Human-Computer Interaction
GravityXR Closes Hundreds of Millions of RMB in Series A Funding to Advance Dedicated Chip for "XR Spatial Computing"
Using chips as the platform to lead the way in delivering ultimate XR experiences.
Moonshot AI Kicks Off the "Long-Context Era" for 100-Billion-Parameter Models
A 100-billion-parameter LLM product that supports 200,000-word context windows
Lizhao Technology Raises Tens of Millions in Pre-A Round, Monolith Capital Co-Invests
Build a world-class Chinese RF plasma solutions enterprise.
Destruction Precedes Creation: Rebooting the Era of General Artificial Intelligence
On August 22, Chinese tech think tank *Jazzyear* hosted the "2023 Jazzyear Gravitational Force X Tech Industry Investment Conference" in Beijing. Dozens of industry leaders gathered to discuss cutting-edge topics, using AI and other hard-tech investments as a starting point to analyze emerging trends in the tech industry and explore new directions, opportunities, and futures for the sector. In 2023, generative AI led by ChatGPT has swept across the globe, ushering in a second wave of artificial intelligence.
Monolith Scores Multiple Honors in First Half of 2023 | Monolith Journey
Create a More Imaginative World
Li Guofei's 10,000-Word Interview: Seeking Wisdom Is About Constantly Breaking the Prison of the Mind
Two worlds that seem to have nothing to do with each other may, at their foundations, arrive at the same destination by different paths.
Entrepreneurship is a climb where the journey itself is the reward.
The journey is the reward.
Monolith's Xi Cao and His Eleven Musketeers
Starting a business is like climbing a mountain — the meaning lies in the climb itself.
Let's Swim Until the Sea Turns Blue
When others see the spray, we see the shifting tide.
MONOLITH砺思资本｜Riding with Great Tech Companies
Think to know, and temper through action.
"You're only 36. You can be anyone you want to be."
Never stop moving forward.
Monolith Capital, alongside great technology companies
Monolith is an investment management firm co-founded in 2021 by Xi Cao, formerly a partner at Sequoia China, and Tim Wang, formerly a partner in the public markets team at Boyu Capital. Monolith covers both private and public markets, including its current VC fund and a previously high-performing debut hedge fund. **Monolith's assets under management have reached nearly $800 million.**
From the Big League to the Niche: The Glory Days of a Generation of Chinese VCs
How they will rethink fame, cycles, and investment.
New Tracks, Interdisciplinary Fields, Down-Market Expansion, Data Infrastructure... Four Companies Raise Nearly 1.2 Billion RMB in Funding | FreeS Family Funding News · Vol 10
Looking forward to working alongside more outstanding founders.
5Y News | METiS Pharmaceuticals Closes Two Consecutive Rounds Raising $150 Million Total
Become an industry innovation leader.
Code Engraved | METiS Pharmaceuticals Announces Two Consecutive Rounds totaling $150 Million
The most advanced pipeline programs are expected to begin pivotal clinical trials in 2023.
