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Alibaba and Tencent were among the investors in Zhipu’s reported 2.5 billion yuan of financing during 2023. Bloomberg converted that annual total to about $342 million, while TechCrunch reported it as $340 million. The figure was not a separately disclosed round funded entirely by Alibaba and Tencent, and the reports did not say how much either company invested.
What the $340 million figure represents
Bloomberg and TechCrunch both reported on October 20, 2023, that Zhipu had raised 2.5 billion yuan in financing during 2023. The dollar headline reflects each publication’s conversion and rounding of the same yuan amount.
| Publisher | Reported yuan total | Dollar conversion | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bloomberg (October 20, 2023) | 2.5 billion yuan | Approximately $342 million | Zhipu’s financing raised during 2023 |
| TechCrunch (October 20, 2023) | 2.5 billion yuan | Approximately $340 million | Zhipu’s total financing to date during 2023 |
Exchange-rate timing and rounding account for the difference between $342 million and $340 million. Neither report established a single financing round with a published contribution breakdown.
Who invested in Zhipu?
Alibaba and Tencent were named alongside a broader group of corporate and venture investors.
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- Corporate investors: Ant Group, Xiaomi and Meituan were listed by Bloomberg; TechCrunch also named Kingsoft, TAL Education Group and Boss Zhipin.
- Financial and institutional investors: TechCrunch identified venture investors and a state fund managed by Legend Capital.
- Individual amounts: The reports did not disclose how much Alibaba, Tencent or any other participant contributed.
Accordingly, saying that Alibaba and Tencent “joined” the funding is accurate; saying they jointly supplied the full $340 million is not supported by the published coverage.
When did the financing happen?
The news dates to October 2023 and describes an aggregate amount raised over that year. It should not be read as evidence of a later 2023 or 2024 round unless a separate filing or announcement provides those terms.
Rank #2
- Dual-Brain Hybrid Power: Combines the Qualcomm Dragonwing QRB2210 MPU (Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 2.0 GHz CPU, Adreno GPU, AI acceleration) and the real-time, low-power STM32U585 MCU for advanced applications like object recognition, voice commands, and motion detection.
- AI & Linux Capabilities: Unlocks AI-powered vision and sound solutions; runs Linux Debian OS for coding in Python and supports the Arduino ecosystem with libraries and Sketches; quick start with Arduino App Lab.
- Advanced Features: Equipped with 2 GB LPDDR4 RAM, 16 GB eMMC built-in storage, ideal to develop in PC-connected mode, running the OS, Python scripts, and basic network services (SSH) without a demanding GUI or heavy multitasking; great for lightweight AI and memory-optimized TinyML applications, needing local storage for basic OS and core libraries. Dual-band Wi-Fi 5 (2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, and high-speed headers for vision, audio, and display peripherals.
- Seamless Expansion & Connectivity: Features the classic UNO form factor for shields compatibility, an 8x13 LED matrix, and a Qwiic connector for easy expansion with Modulino nodes; power and connect via the USB-C connector.
- Intended Use & Development: The perfect platform for prototyping robotics or IoT projects, empowering innovators with a unified development experience to mix Arduino Sketches, Python scripts, and containerized AI models in a single interface.
What is Zhipu?
TechCrunch described Zhipu as a company founded in 2019 and spun out of Tsinghua University, led at the time by Tang Jie, a professor in Tsinghua’s computer science department. Its 2023 coverage highlighted the GLM model family, including ChatGLM-6B and GLM-130B, and said those models had been open-sourced at that time.
A December 2025 Hong Kong exchange prospectus describes a broader business built around foundation models, AI agents and a Model-as-a-Service platform for clients. That later description provides business context, but it does not change the terms of the 2023 financing reported by Bloomberg and TechCrunch.
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- Single core ARM Cortex-A7 32-bit core, integrated with NEON and FPU
- Built in Micro's self-developed 4th generation NPU, with high computational accuracy and support for mixed quantization of int4, int8, and int16. Among them, int8 has a computing power of 0.5 TOPS and int4 has a computing power of up to 1.0 TOPS
- Built in self-developed 3rd generation ISP3.2, supports 4 million pixels, and supports various image enhancement and correction algorithms such as HDR, WDR, and multi-level denoisin
- It has powerful encoding performance, supports intelligent encoding, adapts to save bit rates according to the scene, and saves more than 50% of the bit rate compared to conventional CBR mode, making the captured images high-definition, smaller in size, and doubling the storage space
- The design with built-in RISC-V MCU supports low-power fast startup, 250ms fast capture, and simultaneous loading of AI model library, enabling facial recognition to be completed within 1 second
What remains unknown
- The amount invested by Alibaba.
- The amount invested by Tencent.
- Whether every named investor participated in the same transaction or in multiple financings during 2023.
- The valuation, share-price terms and ownership percentages associated with the reported financing total.
The defensible conclusion is therefore narrow: Zhipu reported—or was reported to have raised—2.5 billion yuan in financing during 2023, approximately $340 million to $342 million depending on the publication’s conversion, with Alibaba and Tencent among the named participants.
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