The recent funding round that propelled the company to its unicorn status included participation from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s cloud unit. Kai-Fu Lee, who is also the CEO of venture firm Sinovation Ventures, will serve as the CEO of 01.AI. The company began assembling its team in March and started operations in June.
Key takeaways:
- A Chinese startup, 01.AI, founded by computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee, has become a unicorn in less than eight months.
- The company's rapid growth is attributed to a new open-source artificial-intelligence model that outperforms those of Silicon Valley.
- 01.AI has reached a valuation of over $1 billion after a funding round that included Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s cloud unit.
- Kai-Fu Lee, the CEO of venture firm Sinovation Ventures, will also serve as the CEO of 01.AI.