Doubao Q&A is throwing money around wildly, while The Dark Side of the Moon is making money like crazy | Exclusive from Intelligence Emergence
Text | Zhou Xinyu
Editor | Su Jianxun
During the Spring Festival, hot money is surging in China's large - model track.
On one end, there are big tech companies splashing out billions of yuan on red envelopes and milk tea to attract traffic for their flagship AI applications; on the other end, there are the six rising stars in the large - model field with soaring stock prices and rapid financing.
On the money - making battlefield, the largest financing deal at the beginning of the year comes from DarkSide.
Previously, media such as Bloomberg reported that DarkSide is about to complete a financing round of over $700 million, led by old shareholders including Alibaba, Tencent, Wuyuan Capital, and Jiuan Medical, and it has already been oversubscribed. Meanwhile, DarkSide has seamlessly launched a new round of financing at a valuation of $10 billion - $12 billion.
Exclusive information obtained by "Intelligent Emergence" shows that in DarkSide's over $700 million financing, in addition to the co - leading old shareholders, it also includes the old shareholder Gao Rong Venture Capital and the newly added Cathay Capital - this is also the first time Cathay Capital has invested in a large - model company.
As we understand, the new round of financing launched at a valuation of over $10 billion has received investment intentions from multiple institutions, including overseas funds with a European background.
As of the time of publication, DarkSide has not responded to the above information.
It is no exaggeration to describe the situation of DarkSide's current financing round as a "rush".
A person familiar with the matter told us that since the second half of 2025 when DarkSide started its financing, many LPs of institutions have been "urging their investment teams to invest".
These rounds of financing have also attracted many funds that are investing in large models for the first time.
For example, we learned that in DarkSide's previous over $700 million financing round, Cathay Capital became a new shareholder - until May 2025, Duan Lanchun, the managing partner of Cathay Capital, also mentioned in an interview with 36Kr that Cathay Capital had not participated in the investment of general large models or underlying infrastructure for the time being because its investment strategy is to "emphasize implementation and ecosystem".
This might be the biggest FOMO (fear of missing out) in the large - model industry since early 2023.
The reason lies in the soaring market values of Zhipu and MiniMax, two large - model startups since their IPOs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which has reignited the enthusiasm for investing in large models in the primary market.
Since their IPOs in early 2026, the stock prices of Zhipu and MiniMax have been rising steadily. Especially after the two companies launched their new - generation models on February 12th, their market values reached new peaks -
As of February 17th, Zhipu's intraday peak market value has exceeded HK$220 billion, and MiniMax's has exceeded HK$260 billion. Both have quadrupled or quintupled compared to their initial listing values.
The considerable returns in the secondary market have also made primary - market investors turn their eyes to the unlisted DarkSide, trying to hoard shares.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange IPO has also expanded the influence of Chinese large models overseas. It is obvious that European capital, which rarely had contact with Chinese companies before, has also extended an olive branch to DarkSide in the new round of financing.
A person familiar with the matter told "Intelligent Emergence" that in DarkSide's previous $700 million financing round, new investors "had to act fast to get a share". In a sense, the new round of financing launched at a valuation of over $10 billion was "pushed forward" by institutions that failed to get a share in the previous round.
Meanwhile, "the market values of Zhipu and MiniMax have provided a valuation anchor for large - model companies in the secondary market." Another person familiar with the matter said.
Previously, the valuations of DarkSide and StepStar were relatively low. Even though DarkSide's current valuation has exceeded $10 billion, compared with Zhipu (valued at about $28 billion) and MiniMax (valued at about $33 billion), the two unlisted model startups still have a several - fold gap.
The gradual verification of the value of model companies in the secondary market has also changed the financing strategies of DarkSide and StepStar: since the second half of 2025, they have launched rolling financing to quickly raise their valuations.
For DarkSide, after announcing the completion of a $500 million financing at the end of December 2025, it launched a new round worth $700 million; then, it seamlessly launched the current financing round, which is advancing rapidly at a valuation of over $10 billion - in just two months, DarkSide's valuation has more than 2.2 times.
Now, the six rising stars in the large - model field are accelerating their fundraising in both the primary and secondary markets. Their most powerful competitors - ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent from the big - tech camp - have taken the lead and entered the stage of spending money to acquire users.
During the Spring Festival, big tech companies sponsored the Spring Festival Gala and splashed out billions of yuan on red envelopes and milk tea. Clearly, they have rushed to seize the "national AI application" market earlier.
For the four remaining large - model startups, maintaining their position in the first echelon of model technology is the most important task at present.
Yin Qi, the chairman of StepStar, mentioned in a recent interview that to stay in the game, R & D of the base model requires an annual investment of 3 billion - 5 billion yuan.
The high valuations and the willingness of both the primary and secondary markets to invest are optimistic signals for startups.
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