Alibaba leads US$14 million funding round in Chinese corporate AI agent start-up

AI agents, designed to perform specific tasks, are increasingly seen as the future of business automation

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AI agents are programs that are capable of autonomously performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Published: 6:00pm, 3 Jul 2025

A Hangzhou-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up specialising in enterprise AI agents has secured over 100 million yuan (US$14 million) from investors led by Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud unit, as Chinese companies strive to leverage the technology to raise business efficiency.

BetterYeah AI, a prominent player in China’s enterprise AI sector founded by former Alibaba executives, said on Wednesday it had completed its latest financing round with contributions from Alibaba Cloud and venture firms Maintrend Capital and Foresight Capital. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

It marked the “largest single investment deal” in the AI agent market, the start-up said.

AI agents are programs that are capable of autonomously performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system. Essentially, these agents create a plan of specific tasks and subtasks to complete a goal using available resources.

SHENZHEN, CHINA - AUGUST 08, 2019: Alibaba Group sign statue says I love Taobao. Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese e-commerce company founded in 1999 by Jack Ma. It serves worldwide. Photo: Shutterstock Images

These AI applications are increasingly seen as the future of business automation. While many start-ups focus on consumer AI agents, BetterYeah AI develops enterprise AI agents that help streamline office operations and management, such as in online client services.

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