AI solves the pain points of high cost and long cycle in traditional 2D animation, Qiying Culture seeks angel round financing

In 2026, the impact of AI on the film and television industry has shifted from concept to reality. While the live-action short drama market is undergoing drastic reshuffling due to AI hyper-realistic human technology, the 2D animation sector has also reached a technological inflection point. Chengdu Qiying Cultural Media Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as "Qiying Culture") aims to seize this window of opportunity by adopting a hybrid model of "traditional pre-animation production + AI mid-stage generation" to enter the market, seeking RMB 3.6 million in financing.

I. The Cost Dilemma of the 2D Animation Market and AI-Based Solutions

1. Animation Market: China's animation market is in a phase of rapid growth. According to iResearch's *2024 China Animation Industry Research Report*, the size of China's animation market reached approximately RMB 3.3 trillion in 2023, grew to around RMB 3.5 trillion in 2024, and is projected to exceed RMB 4 trillion by 2026. Among all segments, 2D animation, with its unique artistic expressiveness and broad audience base, has continuously produced top-tier IPs such as *Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba*, *Jujutsu Kaisen*, and *The Legend of Hei*, demonstrating strong long-term profitability and diverse monetization potential.

2. Traditional Dilemma: The production cost of traditional 2D animation has remained persistently high. Taking the mid-stage production process as an example, the cost per minute of traditional 2D animation ranges from RMB 5,000 to RMB 15,000, and the production cycle is extremely lengthy, heavily relying on the manual input of a large number of junior artists. This structural contradiction limits the production capacity of small and medium-sized animation teams and prevents many high-quality creative ideas from being transformed into commercial works.

3. Advantages of AI: AI animation tools represented by Seedance 2.0 can compress the per-minute production cost of AI animation in the mid-stage to RMB 400 to RMB 800, which is only about one-tenth of the traditional cost. More importantly, 2D animation audiences naturally have a higher tolerance for "non-real-human" visuals. The negative impact of the common "AI-generated feel" in AI-created visuals is far less significant in the 2D animation context than in the field of hyper-realistic human simulation, which provides a user recognition foundation for the large-scale application of AI technology in 2D animation.

4. Solution: The founding team of Qiying Culture has keenly captured this technological dividend. Founder Xu Rui has 6 years of animation industry experience and 4 years of short drama production experience, has participated in multiple viral internet projects, and is familiar with the full workflow spanning pre-production planning, post-production, and AI integration. The team's core strategy is to retain the professional strengths of traditional animation in pre-production creativity, scriptwriting, character design, and storyboarding, while applying AI technology to the mid-stage generation process, significantly reducing costs and shortening cycles without compromising visual quality.

II. Building Differentiated Competitiveness Through "Traditional Pre-Production + AI Mid-Stage Production"

1. Qiying Culture's technical approach is not a simple "AI replaces everything" model, but emphasizes the preservation and enhancement of the core links of animation creation. In terms of team structure, the company has a professional pre-animation production team, including animation directors and storyboard artists who have participated in well-known projects such as *Rakshasa Street*, *The Great Rescue*, and *Honor of Kings PV*, as well as character designers who have worked on high-quality projects like *Goodbye Snow Kid* and *Scissor Seven Advertising Short Film*. The AI department is equipped with 3 AI editors, 4 AI generation specialists, and 1 AI director, responsible for efficiently transforming pre-production creative concepts into finished visuals.

2. This hybrid "traditional + AI" model attempts to solve a core contradiction in the industry: how to reduce costs and improve efficiency without sacrificing content quality. According to Qiying Culture's plan, AI tools are mainly responsible for basic drawing tasks in the mid-stage, while key indicators such as the subtlety of character movements and the artistic expressiveness of visuals are controlled by traditional animators. The team emphasizes externally that the use of AI is to make animation character movements more vivid, rather than producing PPT-style works that simply pile up materials.

3. In terms of business model, Qiying Culture adopts a multi-pronged strategy. On one hand, the company undertakes high-quality short drama production services, has achieved positive monthly profitability, with project revenue growing from RMB 130,000 to RMB 245,000 between March and July, gradually verifying the self-sustainability of its business. On the other hand, the team is fully advancing an original AI animation series project. The first script has been completed by the animation screenwriter of *Rakshasa Street*, and preliminary communication has been conducted with producers from platforms such as Bilibili and Tencent, showing strong willingness for cooperation.

4. In addition, the team plans to warm up the project through self-media channels, including releasing content such as "Behind the Scenes of AI Animation Production" and "Painting VLOG" on platforms like Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and WeChat Channels, to gradually accumulate a fan base and industry influence. In terms of IP derivatives, referring to successful cases such as *Yao-Chinese Folktales: The Monster of Langlang Mountain*, *The Legend of Hei*, and *Non-Human*, Qiying Culture plans to expand peripheral product development and brand co-branding after the project is launched, to further amplify the commercial value of the IP.

III. Team Background and Current Progress

1. Current Team Status: Qiying Culture is based in Chengdu, currently has a team of 28 people, and is still continuously recruiting new members. Founder Xu Rui has a content creation background, with more than 120,000 followers on Bilibili, is familiar with the full workflow of pre-production, post-production, and AI integration, and holds extensive resources in short drama and animation industries. Post-Production Director Pu Kun previously served as the content lead and chief editor for hit short dramas such as *Blazing Sun* and *If Only I Could Be Young Again*, with the goal of building a top-tier post-production team in the industry. AI Director Liu Guangzhe has a traditional film and television background, has deeply participated in multiple well-known projects including *Rakshasa Street*, *The Great Rescue*, and *Honor of Kings PV*, and has already produced several AI short dramas.

2. Development Direction: The 2D animation market is at a critical juncture of technological transformation. The integration of AI tools is reshaping the industry's cost structure and production efficiency, but what truly determines success or failure may still be the hard power of creativity and content. Qiying Culture is trying to find its own position at the intersection of technology and art, and whether this path is viable remains to be tested by the market and time.

3. An industry producer who participated in early testing commented that Qiying's AI animation model not only solves the cost problem but also does not sacrifice content quality, providing small and medium-sized creative teams with the possibility to break into the top-tier market, which is a very valuable exploration for the entire industry.

Entrepreneurial Insights

Talking about his entrepreneurial experience, Xu Rui stated that AI is not a replacement for traditional animators, but a tool to liberate creators' productivity, allowing more good stories to reach audiences by overcoming cost barriers. Going forward, the project will first launch its debut AI animation series, release behind-the-scenes production content on platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili for pre-promotion, continuously polish the IP after launch, gradually expand the team size, and expand IP derivative businesses. The ultimate goal is to build a content company with both excellent reputation and strong revenue capabilities, and blaze a new AI-empowered path in the domestic animation track.