Cumen Secures Tens of Millions in Series A+ Round Financing: Empowering More to "Go Out" in the AI Era

While everyone is discussing how AI can replace humans, there is a company doing something that seems to go "against the trend" - bringing people back to the real world to play together.

36Kr has learned that "Cumen", an offline interest activity community, has completed a new round of financing. The investor is a Hong Kong family fund that has long been concerned about the consumer and lifestyle sectors. The funds from this round will mainly be used to expand brand influence, increase the supply of high - quality event hosts, and accelerate the construction of the community ecosystem and gameplay system. This is also Cumen's second round of financing after receiving a strategic investment from Keep in 2023.

Cumen is trying to reconstruct something that has gradually been overlooked - "how people play together in the real world".

When online entertainment is extremely rich, offline experiences become scarce

In the past two decades, the Internet has solved the problems of "connection" and "content". However, today, a new problem is emerging: the richer online entertainment becomes, the scarcer real offline experiences are.

Short videos, games, and social platforms take up a large amount of time, but face - to - face real interactions between people are decreasing. Xiang Weng, the founder of Cumen, was once in charge of the Xianyu product and the B - end product of Alipay. After years of Internet experience, he made a not - so - "mainstream" judgment: "AI can replace efficiency, but it cannot replace experience. The most real connection between people is still offline."

Not wanting to be a platform, but a new "way of gameplay production"

Cumen was founded in 2022 and is positioned as an interest activity community that connects the real world. At the beginning of its entrepreneurship, it entered the market with an "event registration" tool, but it is not limited to just a tool. Cumen encourages users not to just be participants, event hosts not to just be organizers, and events not to be just one - time consumption, but to involve deeper participation. Xiang Weng hopes that "gameplay can be designed, events can be produced, and experiences can be created."

Centering around the core behavior of "organizing gatherings", Cumen hopes that every user can: initiate an event, organize a group of people, and create an experience.

As of December 2025, Cumen has accumulated over 20 million users, more than 100,000 event hosts and clubs, and the monthly event scale exceeds 100,000. From frisbee, hiking, cycling, pickleball, to a cappella, improvisational theater, and new games like "hide - and - seek", "random PPT presentation", and "stealing sugarcane", these events together constitute a new offline lifestyle.

Cumen's data

Making "leading people to play" a new profession

On Cumen, many event hosts have serious "real - world" labels: such as retired athletes, retired professors, professional outdoor athletes, and many are just ordinary interest enthusiasts. They can all earn income by organizing events and at the same time create experiences.

Cumen is committed to turning the ability of "leading people to play" from the skill of a few into a scalable opportunity. Personal abilities can bring richer feelings to the experience. For example, someone takes users to feel the romance of fireflies in summer; a retired professor tells historical stories on the ancient Shu Road; a cooking enthusiast organizes a "family dinner" at home; a botanist tells the story of plant evolution in the park; a theater operator opens up a drama rehearsal for users to participate in.

These once - scarce experiences are re - organized by Cumen. Xiang Weng believes that "event hosts are not selling services when they charge money, but creating emotional value and connections between people."

From "content recommendation" to "experience immersion"

In terms of commercialization, Cumen does not want to follow the old path of Internet platforms. Different from traditional Internet platforms that rely on traffic, Cumen is more like an "offline experience distribution system". When brands place advertisements, they not only publish content but also enter real scenarios to let users experience their products, making "experience immersion" a new brand promotion path.

Salomon allows more users to feel the product concept through a series of cross - country races and carnivals;
Climbers who rent OPPO phones to take pictures on the top of Niubei Mountain are shocked by the rise of domestic brands through personal experience;
The check - in challenge designed on Emei Mountain makes outdoor enthusiasts eager to refresh their records.

Cumen currently has over 100,000 events per month on average. Brands can accurately link to cooperation plans through tags such as interests, scenarios, or target groups.

Event host Xiaohui

When "playing" becomes a part of life

Xiang Weng mentioned an idea: If there are millions of real - life events happening every day in the future, then "playing" will no longer be just online entertainment but an important part of people's daily lives. He hopes to achieve that at any time and in any city, users can open Cumen and find something worth participating in. This is not only a product goal but also a hope to promote social change and make people:

Shift from online entertainment to real - life experiences
Change from passive consumption to active participation
Move from content viewing to experience creation

A more long - term choice

Although Cumen has achieved profitability, it is not in a hurry to expand on a large scale. This round of financing also has special requirements for the investor: no board seat, no gambling agreements, and no short - term performance pressure. Xiang Weng's judgment is that "offline matters require time to accumulate."

Compared with rapid growth, Cumen values more: the ecosystem of event hosts, gameplay creation, and real - life experiences. He hopes that event hosts can earn money while having fun and become a new profession that brings happiness value to society.

Returning to the real world

In the era of rapid AI development, people need to rethink: what is irreplaceable? What is real? What is worth participating in?

The answer that Cumen tries to give is: real - life experiences, interactions between people, and the moments that happen together. If the Internet has changed the relationship between people and information, then Cumen's goal is to change the way people connect with each other.

Perhaps one day in the future, "going out to play" will no longer require thinking - just like using Didi to take a taxi and Xianyu to buy and sell second - hand goods: just open Cumen when going out to play, and that's enough.

This article is originally produced by「刘文博（瀚海）」， For reprint or content cooperation, please click Reprint Instructions ；Unauthorized reprint will be held accountable.