AI platform solves the problem of monetizing creativity, ZaoWuJi seeks seed round financing
Generative AI continuously lowers the barriers to "creating an image, a piece of copy, a short video, or a Skill". However, after an ordinary person generates a creative idea, they often lack a complete channel to turn it into a physical product, sell it as a digital product, or convert it into sustainable income. Makeria, an AI-native content community platform, is precisely targeting this gap between "creativity and monetization". It attempts to integrate the creation, transaction, and fulfillment processes that were previously scattered across multiple applications into a single entry point by combining a content community with one-click AI customization. Currently, the project is seeking a RMB 8 million seed round financing.
After the creation barrier is eliminated, "monetization" becomes the new bottleneck
According to the "Generative AI Application Development Report (2025)" released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), as of June 2025, the number of generative AI users in China has reached 515 million, with a penetration rate of 36.5%. The net increase in users over half a year was 266 million, doubling the total user base, among which young users under 40 account for 74.6%. For the first time, the group of people who can use AI to create things has formed a large-scale demographic. However, for most creators, there are still several thresholds standing between an AI-generated image and actual revenue.
Makeria's judgment on this breakpoint is: when "generation" is no longer scarce, the truly scarce capability has shifted from "generation" to "the outlet". After an ordinary person uses AI to create images, texts or videos, they often have to repeatedly migrate across multiple platforms — creating on image generation tools, selling prompts on overseas platforms, offering customization services on e-commerce platforms, posting content on short-video platforms, and selling courses on knowledge payment platforms. Every time they switch to a new platform, they have to re-acquire customers and rebuild trust, causing continuous loss of value in these "seams". Makeria refers to this phenomenon as the "seam tax", and takes eliminating these seams to allow one-time AI creation to complete the full cycle of "creativity - physical product - revenue" within the same ecosystem as the core proposition of the platform.
Around this proposition, Makeria has targeted several highly overlapping user groups: AI creators with aesthetic taste and creativity but lacking monetization channels, young consumers pursuing personalized customization, small and medium-sized merchants and self-media entities with outsourcing demands for digital products such as AI-generated images, texts, videos and music as well as short videos, and brands and IP owners who hope to develop IP derivatives with low barriers. According to public data from iiMedia Research and other institutions, the market size of China's "fandom merchandise" economy reached approximately RMB 168.9 billion in 2024, and the IP derivatives market was around RMB 174.2 billion. The continuously expanding demand for emotional and personalized customized consumption forms the market foundation on the demand side.
Content community combined with one-click AI customization to realize the shortest monetization closed loop
At the product level, Makeria's seed round focuses on two core engines: "content community" and "one-click AI customization". The former serves as the main relationship line, organizing creators through interest circles, topics, creative chain challenges, and themed contests. The latter acts as the monetization hub, allowing users to input their ideas in a dialog box. After AI generates images and texts, users can choose categories such as acrylic products, apparel, home goods, and gifts for single-item ordering, with proofing and delivery completed through a flexible supply chain. According to the introduction, relying on a three-tier supply chain, the platform can achieve proofing in about 72 hours and delivery within 5 to 7 days. After the goods are received, revenue will be automatically distributed among creators, the platform, and brand IP owners according to the gross profit pool rules.
The two engines are designed to form a mutually reinforcing closed loop: the community continuously produces customizable creative materials, and leverages the natural viral effect of creative chains and group purchases to convert interactions into customization orders. In turn, the customization function makes community content "visible, purchasable, and profitable", driving creators to shift from "creating for passion" to "creating for revenue". Makeria calls this mechanism the "Creative Loop", and regards it as the minimum viable closed loop to be verified in the seed round.
In terms of business model, Makeria will first verify a core model in the seed round — GMV commission on physical goods based on gross profit pool revenue sharing. Starting from the fourth month, it will add commissions for AI task matching, and gradually open up additional revenue streams such as brand IP licensing, subscriptions, and digital product transactions later. According to its calculations, the platform's weighted comprehensive commission rate across four categories is about 15%. In terms of market space, the team sums up directly related segments including AIGC, fandom merchandise, IP derivatives, knowledge payment, and micro-short dramas, estimating a potential total market size of over RMB 790 billion, and further narrows down to a serviceable market of about RMB 25.9 billion. For the 12-month seed round, it has set a first-year GMV target of around RMB 13 million, focusing on verifying unit economics and the fulfillment closed loop rather than profitability.
From the perspective of the competitive landscape, leading players have already emerged in segments such as AI creation, on-demand fulfillment, and creator communities. However, Makeria believes that no existing platform has integrated "AI creation, digital products, creator communities, physical fulfillment, and task matching" into a single mobile-end closed loop. Similar projects such as Shumei Wanwu, Leewow Maker, and Lingju Huajing mostly focus on overseas markets and have weak community attributes, which creates a differentiated entry opportunity for Makeria. However, competition in this track is intensifying rapidly, and this window of opportunity will not be exclusive for long.
Three-person co-founding team, product in pre-public beta stage
Makeria is developed by a three-person co-founding team. Li Haonan, Founder and CEO, holds a bachelor's and master's degree in economics and is currently a PhD candidate at Tsinghua University. His family has been engaged in apparel OEM in Yiwu for about 30 years, having provided manufacturing services for many well-known apparel brands. He independently developed the entire platform on his own. The Co-Founder and CTO holds a master's degree in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, and has engineering experience at companies including Intel, ByteDance, Amazon, and Databricks. He specializes in distributed query engines, vector databases, and AI data engines, corresponding to the platform's planning for the AI data infrastructure layer. The Co-Founder and CPO previously served as the head of AI data products at a listed edtech company, mainly responsible for product definition of the dual engines (content community and AI customization) and the creator ecosystem mechanism.
In terms of progress, Makeria is currently in the pre-public beta stage, with plans to officially launch public beta in August 2026. According to the founder, the platform has completed a full-stack WeChat Mini Program covering AI creation, community, digital product transactions, e-commerce fulfillment, compliance, and security, with about 320,000 lines of self-developed code. The core transaction link — from AI generation, material selection, order placement, WeChat payment, to supply chain callback, logistics feedback, and user reviews — has been verified end-to-end in the internal testing environment. The platform has not yet launched public beta, so there are no large-scale real orders at present. All operational data in the business plan are predictions based on unit economics and the cold start funnel. In terms of compliance, in response to the mandatory regulations on AI-generated synthetic content identification that will take effect in September 2025, the platform states that it has built in capabilities including explicit and implicit dual identification, content moderation, and scan-to-trace functionality.
In this seed round, Makeria plans to raise RMB 8 million, corresponding to a post-money valuation of RMB 520 million with 15.4% equity to be transferred, and adopts founder-friendly terms without performance bets, share repurchase clauses, or personal joint and several liability guarantees. According to the set milestones, the platform plans to reach about 16,000 to 20,000 daily active users, monthly GMV of around RMB 8 million, 25 settled brand IPs, and launch the Pre-A round six months after public beta. By the 12th month, it aims to achieve a steady state of monthly GMV of around RMB 15 million. According to the plan, the funds raised in this round will be mainly invested in team expansion, growth marketing, supply chain construction, compliance, and data infrastructure, rather than developing the product from scratch.