- The delta’s startups working on next-gen AI chips, physical AI, robotics, fusion and AI toys raised fresh funding
- New capital will support chip commercialization, embodied AI, industrial automation and advanced fusion equipment
CIM startup Nano-Core Chip raises shy of $150 million in Series C1
Hangzhou-based compute-on-memory (CIM) AI chip developer Nano-Core Chip (微纳核芯) has completed a 1 billion yuan ($149 million) Series C1 financing round, attracting both financial and strategic investors.
Participants include Pre-IPO Capital, Yuanhao Capital, GP Capital, Sunshine Insurance Group, Hua Capital and Delian Capital, alongside strategic investors such as Meig Smart, Hengxu Capital and Huaqin Technology.
Several existing shareholders also increased their investments. The financing was confirmed in September.
Founded in 2021 and incubated by the Peking University Institute of Information Technology in Zhejiang, Nano-Core Chip is among the earliest teams globally to conduct original research into compute-in-memory architectures.
The company has developed what it describes as the world’s first 3D compute-in-memory, or 3D-CIM, AI inference chip. Its architecture combines 3D near-memory computing, SRAM-based compute-in-memory and heterogeneous RISC-V compute-in-memory technologies.
Nano-Core says the approach is designed to overcome the conventional trade-off between performance, power consumption and cost.
Tape-out results have shown a four- to 10-fold improvement in computing density and energy efficiency, according to the company.
The company is preparing to enter mass production and commercial sales, which would make it one of the first companies globally to commercialize 3D compute-in-memory AI chips.
Earlier investors include Xiaomi, Luxshare, Lenovo Capital and China Mobile Chain Leader Fund. The company’s Series B financing had already exceeded 1 billion yuan across several tranches.
China’s ‘Palantir’ Jing-An nets $45 million across three tranches
Hangzhou-based intelligent-decision infrastructure company Jing-An Technology (靖安科技) has completed another financing round backed exclusively by GPU maker Jingjia Micro (景嘉微), bringing its total funding across three rounds over the past year to more than 300 million yuan ($44.7 million).
Founded in 2021, Jing-An Technology develops four main product lines: a global situational-awareness system, an intelligent control engine for unmanned equipment, an intelligent sentry defense system and a system called Diting.
Its products are deployed in infrastructure security and national-defense applications. The company has been dubbed China’s “Palantir” for its focus on applying AI to defense and security.
Jing-An has also signed a strategic partnership with Jingjia Micro, a leading Chinese GPU developer, to jointly build a full-stack “AI plus national defense” capability.
The latest financing will be used to further develop its core technologies and expand deployments in benchmark industry applications.
Senad raises nearly $30 million for autonomous loading robots
Jiaxing-based embodied robotics company Senad (赛那德) has completed a new financing round of nearly 200 million yuan ($29.8 million), with investments from Wuliangye Fund, Sino-US Venture Capital, Industrial Securities Investment and Zhejiang Innovation Industry Private Equity Fund Management.
It is the company’s fourth financing round in six months, underscoring continued investor interest in its AI-powered approach to automating the final steps of industrial logistics.
Recent industry reports confirmed both the size of the round and its status as Senad’s fourth financing in six months.
Senad’s core iLoabot-M autonomous loading and unloading robot has recently been upgraded to version 2.0, expanding beyond single-task deployments to more complex environments involving multiple SKUs.
In the first half of 2026, the company also launched what it describes as the world’s first physical foundation model specifically designed for logistics loading and unloading, Senad Robot Insight-World V3.0.
The model allows robots to anticipate the physical consequences of a grasping action before executing it.
Its products have already been deployed at scale by leading companies across beverages, tobacco, fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, logistics and advanced manufacturing. Its overseas sales channels now cover developed markets including Europe, the US and Japan.
Wuwen AI bags hundreds of millions of yuan in Series A funding
Huzhou-based physical AI data infrastructure company Wuwen AI (无问智科) has completed a Series A financing round worth hundreds of millions of yuan, led by Aplus Capital.
Hongshan Capital, China Electronics Cloud and Data Finance, and Lion Partners Capital participated, while existing investors Bridge Capital and Leaguer Financial, among others, made additional investments.
Wuwen AI has developed two core platforms, the Wuyin physical AI data infrastructure platform and Wuqiong world simulator. Together, they are built around a “world model × data factory × world simulator” architecture designed to create a Real2Sim2Real loop spanning real-world data collection, synthetic-world generation and simulation.
The company is active across logistics and warehousing, industrial manufacturing and household services, with monthly data-production capacity exceeding 20,000 hours.
Its embodied-AI business has generated several hundred million yuan in orders, up more than 30-fold year-on-year, while both coverage of major customers and repeat-purchase rates exceed 80%, according to the company.
Recent reports also confirmed the latest Series A round and the company’s continued investment in world-model and physical-AI infrastructure.
The new funding will support further development of world models and infrastructure, including higher-quality data production, scene generation, physics simulation and standardized evaluation for embodied-AI training and commercial deployment.
Fusion equipment startup Megawave Fusion completes $15 million Series A
Hefei-based fusion auxiliary-heating equipment provider Megawave Fusion (曦融兆波) has completed a Series A round of more than 100 million yuan ($14.9 million yuan), jointly led by CRRC Transition & Upgrading Fund and Changjiang Capital.
TCL Fund, CMB International, and Shanghai Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund also participated.
Megawave’s core team comes from the Energy Research Institute of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center.
The company says it is currently the only Chinese commercial company to have achieved full-system application of an ion-cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) system.
Its business covers the development of auxiliary heating systems for fusion devices, while it also supplies core power equipment for neutral-beam injection heating and electron-cyclotron resonance heating systems.
The company is working to build an independently controlled equipment platform spanning physics design, core components, system integration and operational control.
The latest financing will accelerate the development and localization of critical equipment for the fusion industry.
Edtech and AI toy startup Formount secures angel+ round
Hangzhou-based children’s growth data technology company Formount (风峦数字科技) has completed an angel+ round worth tens of millions of yuan, led by Xi’an Hongruida Investment, with Suzhou Yeeda Fund and Hexa Capital participating.
The company will use the proceeds to develop its first educational-robot prototype, expand its technical team and build out its sales network.
Founded in October 2025, Formount is led by founder Jiang Xiaodi (蒋肖迪), a Cornell University graduate who previously founded knowledge-subscription company “Xingluan Tianxia.”
On the software side, the company has launched the Huanke AI learning app, which includes an AI English-speaking tutor and an automated error-book feature. The app has attracted nearly 300,000 users.
On the hardware side, Formount is developing a desktop companion robot using a wheeled-leg design. The device is expected to be priced at around 6,000 yuan, positioning it against mid- to high-end learning devices.
The company expects to complete its first prototype in November 2025.
Leim Technology snags angel funding for emotional AI robot
Hangzhou-based AI robotics developer Leim Technology (镭萌科技) has completed an angel round worth tens of millions of yuan.
The round was jointly led by Trends Group and Rhein Capital. It marks Trends Group’s first investment in AI robotics, while Rhein Capital cited the company’s research capabilities and technological potential as key attractions.
Founded in January 2025, Leim’s core team includes veterans from Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance. Founder Wang Shouchang (王寿畅) spent 15 years at Alibaba, where he participated in defining and designing products including Alibaba Wangwang, Alipay and Zebra Intelligent Mobility.
He later launched technology-oriented collectible products that have sold more than 1.5 million units in total.
Its flagship product, bibo, is a nonverbal emotional robot designed in the form of a collectible toy. Priced at 1,499 yuan ($223), it officially launched in June 2026 and uses an embodied-AI architecture with five categories of sensors and a multimodal emotional engine.
The robot is designed to respond to changes in users’ emotional states with immediate behavioral feedback. It has entered markets in 16 countries and regions worldwide.
The latest funding will support continued development of its emotional-interaction technology, expansion of global distribution channels and deeper partnerships around intellectual property.
