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Start-ups

Start-ups
Articles about early-stage companies; pre-IPO, including those still being funded by angel investors, private equity or venture capitalists.
The new Claude Fable 5 is the most powerful model ‌Anthropic has ever made for wider use, the start-up ​says. Photo illustration: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Anthropic opens powerful Mythos AI model to public – with some safeguards

Access was previously limited to organisations like the US government due to the model’s ability to unearth cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Universities in Hong Kong

Hong Kong commits US$383 million to university spin-offs in tech hub push

Banking & finance

Hong Kong’s venture fund eyes bigger bankroll after double-digit return

Robotics

World of humanoid robots set for new blueprint as Nvidia teams with Asian firms

The tech trio team up to create a state-of-the-art robot reference design allowing researchers to build, fine-tune and deploy skills faster.

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Unitree robots perform dance moves at Global Sources Hong Kong Shows at AsiaWorld-Expo in Chek Lap Kok. The exhibition showcases the newest technologies in mobile accessories and AI-powered consumer electronics. Photo: Eugene Lee
Robotics

‘Arms race’: why investors can’t let go of robotic hand developers in China

Funding blitzes spotlight the dexterous hand sector, which is focused on the toughest component in humanoid hardware.

Artificial intelligence

As China’s humanoid-robot hype cools, Unitree sees profit plunge

A filing shows adjusted profit fell 53 per cent, even as revenue continued to rise, highlighting tough competition in humanoid robot sector.

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Robotics

China unveils first humanoid robot for household chores, ready as early as 2027

Companies are still improving data required for robots to perform complex household tasks, some of which require embodied AI.

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A humanoid robot, the SeeLight S1, performs a household chore. Photo: Changjiang Daily
Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek adds former Jane Street engineer to harness team amid agentic AI push

Move underscores start-up’s efforts to build harnesses – software that turns an AI model into a functional and autonomous AI agent.

Artificial intelligence

Chinese premier urges faster, broader adoption of AI in advanced manufacturing

Premier Li Qiang says boosting AI-powered manufacturing can help drive new growth for the economy.

Artificial intelligence

China’s Moonshot AI moves to unwind offshore structure in IPO pursuit: sources

Beijing-based unicorn tells shareholders it will dismantle VIE model as regulators tighten oversight, as shift may signal new era for foreign tech investment.

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Founder of Moonshot AI Yang Zhilin speaks at the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing on March 25. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Ex-Meta Chinese star joins race for self-improving AI with US$4.6b start-up

The funding round was led by venture capital firms GV and Greycroft, with ‘major participation’ from Nvidia and AMD.

AI systems that can automate the AI research and development process have long been seen as the holy grail of AI research. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Artificial intelligence

Kimi developer Moonshot AI valued at US$20b as it navigates new IPO rules

Firm raised US$2 billion from investors including Meituan’s venture and China Mobile, taking total to US$3.9 billion in the last six months.

Art

Are NFTs the hero or villain in the contemporary art scene?

In March, Art Basel Hong Kong featured a dedicated space for digital practices, raising the question: what’s next for non-fungible tokens?

Robotics

Hype or real: China’s robot boom faces reality check as commercialisation lags

Capital floods into China’s robotic sector but profitability remains elusive as challenges emerge with the industry’s business model.

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One of Agibot’s wheeled robots works at a supermarket checkout as the robotics sector reconsiders its business model to make the venture profitable. Photo: Handout
Venture capital market

Hong Kong tech hub progress ‘significant’, Dalton Venture’s Steve Sun says

City’s measures to retain research talent and encourage the commercialisation of research results ‘gradually taking effect’, venture capitalist says.

Hong Kong’s skyline viewed from Victoria Peak. Photo: Eugene Lee
Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek mystery: who is speaking for start-up amid CEO Liang Wenfeng’s absence?

Researcher Chen Deli is emerging as DeepSeek’s new public face as speculation over the whereabouts of the company’s founder and CEO lingers.

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Millionaires, billionaires and trillionaires

Elon Musk’s trial against Sam Altman reveals power struggle for OpenAI

Musk, one of the original co-founders of OpenAI, is seeking US$150 billion in damages from the company and Microsoft, one of its largest investors.

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Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek takes step away from Nvidia amid export curbs on China

DeepSeek’s new artificial intelligence model puts up a price challenge to US rivals and is a further step towards a stand-alone Chinese AI ecosystem.

Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek unveils next-gen AI model as Huawei vows ‘full support’ with new chips

The company says its cost-efficient new V4 model is competitive with top closed-source models from OpenAI and Google DeepMind.

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Artificial intelligence

Beijing sounds alarm over urgent need to clean up online ads

Market watchdog flags AI abuse and traffic-driven tactics as it launches first campaign to overhaul online advertising.

Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek isn’t short of cash: so why has it decided to raise funds anyway?

DeepSeek is raising a small funding round not for cash, but to set a valuation benchmark and retain talent as rivals ramp up poaching.

DeepSeek CEO Liang Wenfeng is pursuing ambitions in artificial general intelligence – AI capable of matching human performance across a wide range of tasks. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

‘State-of-the-art’ models can struggle with basic office work, says AI executive

Advanced AI can ace Olympiad maths yet falters in routine office tasks as enterprises turn to smaller models for everyday use: David Meyer.

While advanced models such as Anthropic’s Claude are powerful at coding, they could lag in tasks like data engineering compared with models with significantly more specialised training and data in this area, according to an AI unicorn executive. Photo: DPA
United States

White House and Anthropic CEO discuss working together amid Mythos AI fears

The model’s capabilities give it a potentially unprecedented ability to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities – and to ‌exploit them.

IPO

Manycore, one of Hangzhou’s ‘Six Little Dragons’, surges on Hong Kong IPO debut

The company’s listing highlights its pivot from design tools to advanced AI-driven spatial platforms as it eyes overseas growth.

Artificial intelligence

Black market workarounds scale up for Claude as Anthropic tightens ID checks

Chinese developers are bypassing new ID checks as demand for Claude remains strong despite official restrictions.

New ID requirements have reverberated across China’s developer community, where many programmers rely on the company’s Claude models. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

China’s AI world model edge: abundant data and faster deployment, executive says

China’s strong industrial base, abundance of factory data give its world models a decisive push, says executive from leading start-up GigaAI.

GigaAI, a company specialising in embodied intelligent models, has secured another round of financing. Photo: Handout
Robotics

Video | Humanoid robots to compete in Beijing half-marathon

Test run was held to replicate the official race to be held on April 19.

Artificial intelligence

Opinion | Despite its hype, AI is just a means to economic resilience

To survive the shift from winner-takes-all capitalism to true sustainability, the learning curve is steep. AI is just the latest tool to help us climb it.

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