Asia

China AI startups & tech ecosystem (2026)

Major hubs for AI research and applications. China has 351 startups, 42 investors, and 136 open tech jobs, led by Shenzhen. $255.0B in tracked funding.

Startups

351

Funding tracked

$255.0B

Investors

42

Open tech jobs

136

People

11

Startup hubs in China
Click a city bubble to filter search. Bubble size = startup count.
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Top sectors in China

From sector tags on profiles

  • 1.Robotics78 companies
  • 2.Consumer Electronics74 companies
  • 3.Artificial Intelligence71 companies
  • 4.Computer Vision65 companies
  • 5.Generative AI56 companies
  • 6.Hardware52 companies
  • 7.Foundation Model39 companies
  • 8.Industrial Automation34 companies
  • 9.E-commerce32 companies
  • 10.AI Hardware30 companies
Top startups in China
Ranked by profile score. View all in search
1
Alibaba.com
A global B2B e-commerce platform connecting businesses for international trade.
E-commerce
Strategic
$63.0M
204,891 emp.
87
2
Shein
A global online fast-fashion retailer.
E-commerce
Private Equity
$2.1B
11,633 emp.
86
3
Meituan
Leading Chinese e-commerce platform for services like food delivery, hotel booking, and movie tickets.
E-commerce
86
4
Didi Global
A leading ride-hailing and mobility technology platform.
Ride-hailing
IPO
$21.0B
30 emp.
85
5
NIO Inc.
Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer designing, developing, and selling premium smart electric vehicles.
AI Chip Development
Post IPO
$2.3B
5,104 emp.
85
6
Pinduoduo
A leading Chinese social commerce platform focused on agriculture and value-for-money products.
E-commerce
Post IPO
$6.4B
85
7
Yangtze Memory Technologies
Chinese semiconductor company designing and manufacturing 3D NAND flash memory chips and SSDs.
Semiconductor Manufacturing
Investment
$226.0M
85
8
BYD
Global manufacturer of electric vehicles and batteries, known for its Blade Battery technology.
Automotive
Strategic
$63.0M
600,000 emp.
85
9
NIO Inc
Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer designing, developing, and selling smart electric vehicles.
Automotive
5,104 emp.
85
10
kling 3.5
Kuaishou's generative AI service for creating videos from text and image descriptions.
Generative AI
81
11
MiniMax
MiniMax is a leading global technology company and one of the pioneers of large language models (LLMs) in Asia, developing proprietary LLMs across various modalities.
Artificial Intelligence
Funding Round
$2.0B
500 emp.
74
12
Unitree Robotics
Develops and sells high-performance quadruped and humanoid robots for industrial and consumer applications.
Robotics
Series B
$890.1M
71 emp.
74
13
Drones (e.g., DJI, Skydio, Skyfront)
World's largest manufacturer of commercial drones and aerial robotics technology.
Drone Technology
Funding Round
$1.2B
73
14
Starbucks' China unit
Starbucks' China unit is a major coffeehouse chain operator in China, now a joint venture with Boyu Capital.
Coffeehouse Chain
73
15
Pudu Robotics
Intelligent service robotics developer.
Robotics
Series C+
$490.0M
256 emp.
71
16
CreateAI
AI animation and video generation platform, pivoted from autonomous trucking (formerly TuSimple)
Generative AI
Post IPO
$2.0B
1,000 emp.
70
17
TigerData
Provides data analytics and business intelligence solutions for businesses.
Series C
$166.1M
147 emp.
70
18
DeepSeek AI
Chinese AI company developing advanced models for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
AI Infrastructure
Funding Round
$15.8B
162 emp.
70
19
Hai Robotics
Develops and deploys intelligent warehouse automation robotics for efficient storage and retrieval.
Warehouse Robotics
Series D+
$644.0M
608 emp.
70
20
China Telecom
China Telecom is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, providing integrated information services across China and globally.
Telecommunications
Public
$80.0B
280,000 emp.
69
21
Kling AI
Kling AI is a generative AI service by Kuaishou that creates high-quality, realistic videos from text descriptions or images, competing with major AI video models.
Generative AI
Pre-IPO
$3.0B
69
22
Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group is China's largest e-commerce and technology conglomerate, operating platforms across retail, cloud computing, logistics, and digital media.
E-commerce
Angel
$4.8B
220,000 emp.
69
23
Geek+
Geek+ is a global leader in autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for warehouse and logistics automation.
Robotics
Venture Round
$891.0M
677 emp.
69
24
Robot Era
Beijing-based humanoid robotics company building full-stack embodied intelligence, first humanoid to climb the Great Wall.
Robotics
Series B
$145.0M
69
25
Moonshot AI
Chinese AI startup developing advanced large language models and AI agents, including the Kimi chatbot, with a focus on AGI research.
Frontier AI Lab
Series C
$3.9B
68
26
Baidu
Chinese multinational technology company specializing in internet services and artificial intelligence.
AI
Post IPO
$3.1B
50,000 emp.
68
27
Pony AI
A leading autonomous driving technology company.
Autonomous Vehicles
515 emp.
66
28
WuXi AppTec
Global CRDMO providing integrated R&D and manufacturing services for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.
Drug Discovery
Post IPO
$40.0M
4,218 emp.
66
29
Trip.com Group
Leading global online travel agency with hotel, flight, and tour booking services.
Online Travel
IPO
$75.0M
1,319 emp.
66
30
BYD Co., Ltd.
Chinese multinational manufacturing conglomerate specializing in automobiles, batteries, electronics, and rail transit.
Automotive
Seed
$230.0M
66
31
Huawei
Global leader in telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics, and digital solutions.
Telecommunications Equipment
Debt Sale
$2.7B
65
32
RingConn
A svelte smart ring that tracks activity, sleep, and health metrics with long battery life.
Wearable Technology
Series B
$63.0M
30 emp.
63
33
Monica
All-in-one AI assistant browser extension powered by GPT, Claude, and Gemini for 10M+ users worldwide.
Productivity
Seed
$10.0M
50 emp.
63
34
Reolink
Smart home security and surveillance solutions.
Consumer Electronics
Series C
$63.0M
63
35
meitu
AI-driven technology company specializing in photo editing, video enhancement, and design creation tools.
AI
Post IPO
$590.0M
652 emp.
63
36
Eufy
Smart home security solutions with local AI processing and no subscription fees.
Consumer Electronics
Series C
$63.0M
62
37
EngineAI
Builder of humanoid and quadruped robots for traffic, security, and retail.
Robotics
Series B
$635.0M
40 emp.
62
38
Dify
Dify is a leading agentic AI development platform that enables teams to effortlessly develop, deploy, and manage autonomous agents and RAG pipelines for production-ready AI solutions.
Agentic AI
Undisclosed
$38.2M
62
39
Hailuo 3.0
Next-generation AI video generator for cinematic 4K 60FPS videos from text or images.
AI Video Generation
Series C
$1.4B
62
40
Nona Biosciences
Biotechnology company specializing in antibody discovery and development with integrated 'Idea to IND' solutions.
Biotech
82 emp.
62

FAQ

China startup ecosystem