Zhipu Grows Revenue and Users on Path to China’s First AI IPO
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Chinese OpenAI challenger Zhipu has hit a key revenue milestone and grown users of its fledgling AI development tools business, hoping the fast-growing service will propel an upcoming stock market debut.
The six-year-old startup is now making more than 100 million yuan ($14 million) in annual recurring revenue from selling access to software tools and models that developers employ to create AI services, co-founder Zhang Peng told Bloomberg News. While modest by the standards of US rivals, that figure shows progress in convincing Chinese customers to pay for AI. Usage of the subscription-only service grew tenfold in the first two months after the July release of Zhipu’s flagship GLM-4.5 model, Zhang said.