TLDR: Alibaba Group Holding has led a US$60 million investment in AIsphere, the Beijing-based startup behind the popular AI video generator PixVerse. This marks the largest single funding round for a domestic AI video generation firm, highlighting the growing interest and investment in artificial intelligence technologies within China.
Alibaba Group Holding has taken the lead in a significant US$60 million funding round for AIsphere, a Beijing-based artificial intelligence video generation start-up. This substantial investment, announced on Wednesday, September 11, 2025, represents the largest single amount raised by a domestic AI video generation firm, underscoring the rapid growth and strategic importance of AI in content creation.
AIsphere, founded in April 2023 by former Microsoft and ByteDance executive Wang Changhu, is the innovator behind PixVerse, a widely used AI video generator. PixVerse empowers users to effortlessly create videos from various inputs, including text prompts, images, and existing video clips.
The funding round saw participation from other notable investors, including the Singapore-headquartered venture capital firm Antler and the Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund. While the specific valuation of AIsphere was not disclosed, the capital injection is earmarked to fuel the company’s research and development efforts and support its ongoing global expansion initiatives.
PixVerse has demonstrated remarkable user adoption, boasting over 100 million users worldwide, a figure that has more than doubled since the beginning of the year. The platform gained significant traction last year when its “Venom effect” video template became a viral sensation on TikTok.
This investment aligns with Alibaba’s broader strategy of deepening its engagement in the video generation sector. The e-commerce giant has previously invested in AIsphere’s competitor, MiniMax, and has also been developing its own AI models. The move reflects a trend among China’s major tech firms to invest in specialized AI start-ups to enhance their existing offerings and develop new products.
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The competitive landscape in China’s AI video generation market is intensifying, with other prominent tech companies also launching new products. ByteDance, for instance, has introduced Jimeng AI, while Kuaishou Technology has unveiled Kling AI. Huang Weilin, head of image and video generation at ByteDance Seed, projected that video generation products could generate US$100 million in annual recurring revenue this year, with the potential to surge to US$1 billion next year, indicating a highly lucrative and expanding market.
