Sinovation Ventures Boosts Bet on AI as China Aspirations Grow

For years, Kai-Fu Lee would share his venture capital firm’s office space in Beijing with startups he was backing so they could get advice and collaborate with each other. But about three months ago, the last of the startups packed up and moved out. The desks were promptly taken over by employees of Sinovation Ventures’ latest growing endeavor, an in-house AI Institute.

“It makes more sense to have our AI team together in the office – there’s more synergy,” says Lee, a veteran of both Google and Microsoft Corp. in China, during an interview at his headquarters in the city’s Haidian District. The AI Institute now has about 30 full-time employees with plans to grow headcount to about a hundred within the year.