- Pre-IPO RoundUSD 2.5B — Amount: Nearly USD 2.5B (approx. RMB 17B); Nearly USD 2.5B; Post-money valuation: Not officially disclosed (market rumors suggest an IPO target valuation of USD 10–12B, not confirmed post-money for this round); Led by No single lead investor identified (joint investment by industrial and financial investors including CPE Yuanfeng etc.) | Set the record for the largest single financing in the domestic large model sector since 2026, just 4 months after the B+ round. Investors showed extremely strong industrial synergy characteristics: Huaqin and Longqi are top-tier global mobile phone ODMs; OmniVision Group is a leading global image sensor supplier; ZTE has deeply co-created with StepFun in the AI phone field (mass production of flagship models like Nubia Z80 Ultra). HKIC's investment is particularly key—as an official investment platform established by the Hong Kong SAR government, HKIC in the large model field...
- Pre-IPO Follow-on InvestmentUSD 44M — Amount: RMB 300M; Approx. USD 44.1M (converted at 1 USD = 6.8 CNY); Led by: Lianhua Holdings (600186.SH) | Beyond the main Pre-IPO round, A-share listed company Lianhua Holdings followed on with a lead investment of RMB 300M, a typical structure of listed companies participating in Pre-IPO rounds. ⚠️ This round is missing from the Frontier Company Database. | Source: Investment Community
- Series B++ RoundUSD 730M — Amount: over RMB 5B; approx. USD 735M (converted at 1 USD = 6.8 CNY, original RMB value prevails); Led by Shanghai State-owned Investment Leading Fund (one of the lead investors) | This round is a watershed for StepFun's capital structure: ① Shanghai state-owned capital fully entered (Shanghai State-owned Investment Leading Fund + Pudong Venture Capital + Xuhui Capital + Wuxi Liangxi + Xiamen ITG), forming a state-owned matrix centered on Shanghai; ② Huaqin Technology invested for the first time — a top-tier global smartphone ODM company, marking the beginning of industrial chain capital binding with edge-side large model capabilities; ③ Tencent increased its stake for the second consecutive round. ⚠️ This round is completely missing from the Frontier Company Database. | Source: Securities Times · Sina Finance
- Series B RoundUndisclosed — Amount: Hundreds of millions of USD; Hundreds of millions of USD (range undisclosed); Led by Not clearly disclosed (Shanghai State Investment joined) | Financing amount upgraded from "tens of millions of USD" in Round A to "hundreds of millions of USD," with Shanghai State Investment entering for the first time—local state-owned capital began backing this large model company in Xuhui, Shanghai, and this SOE clue continued to amplify in subsequent Round B+, Pre-IPO rounds. ⚠️ This round is completely missing from the Wujie Frontier Company Database. | Source: Investment World · Securities Times
- Series A RoundUndisclosed — Amount: Tens of millions USD; Tens of millions USD (range undisclosed); Led by Not explicitly disclosed (joint investment by Five Years Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, HongShan China) | Completed Series A just 7 months after company establishment (April 2023), with investors being three top-tier USD funds — a purely financial investor structure, valuing the technical team of Jiang Daxin (former Microsoft Global VP) and Zhang Xiangyu (core author of ResNet). ⚠️ This round is completely missing from the Frontier Company Database. | Source: Investment World · IT Juzi
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