StepFun
阶跃
StepFun (阶跃星辰) is a Shanghai-based large-model startup that has repositioned itself around an "AI + endpoints" strategy after concluding that pure model benchmarking is a dead end. In January 2026 it closed a RMB 5 billion-plus B+ round, which 5Y Capital noted set a 12-month record for single-round funding in China's LLM sector, with backers including Tencent, Qiming Venture Partners, and industrial investors like mobile ODM giant Huaqin Technology . The company simultaneously brought on Qi Yin (印奇) — co-founder of autonomous driving firm Momenta — as chairman, explicitly to bridge model capabilities with terminal hardware .
Its product line now spans STEPX, Step AOS (an agent-native OS), the Amoo agent, the STEPX Neo phone, a desktop AI companion, and a "Super Eva" automotive agent — reflecting a bet on two-wheeled, four-wheeled, and bipedal robots plus phones and cars . StepFun has shipped Step-GUI Edge, an on-device model for phones, and claims model installations on roughly 50 million devices through partnerships covering 60% of top handset brands, including an OPPO integration for screen-based Q&A . In automotive, it co-developed a VLA-style driving model with Qianli Technology . The company also has a robotics partnership with Yuanli Lingji (原力灵机), signed April 2025, to build "RoboAgent" for embodied intelligence scenarios .
Model-performance wise, StepFun sits in a "widely agreed second tier" among surviving Chinese foundation-model shops, per a July 2026 assessment, though its Step 3.7 Flash drew notice for cost efficiency before rivals slashed prices .
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Coverage
Only second-rate models do anonymous benchmark bragging
What the hell is the whole bull market coming for if the big models can't even guess your horse? --- *Note: This appears to be Chinese internet slang/meme language. "牛来" (niú lái) = "bull market coming" (from crypto/stock trading slang). "猜你马" (cāi nǐ mǎ) is a vulgar homophone of "猜你妈" (guess your mom), used here to express frustration that AI models can't predict things accurately — roughly equivalent to "what's the point" or "this is useless." The tone is crude and exasperated, typical of Chinese social media shitposting.*
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