Z.ai
Use GLM models through a chat interface that can also run agent workflows.
Zhipu AI Funding History
Zhipu AI develops the GLM foundation-model family and provides AI services for enterprises, government organizations and developers. Originating in the Tsinghua research ecosystem, its business includes private model deployment, model-as-a-service offerings and developer tools.
Company Overview
Founded 2019 · Beijing, China
Official WebsiteZhipu AI Funding Timeline
IPO
$560M · $6.5B valuation
Zhipu’s initial Hong Kong offering comprised 37,419,500 shares at HK$116.20 each before any exercise of the over-allotment option.
Source · cnbc.com ↗Series B1
CNY208 million
Zhipu’s IPO prospectus dates the B1 closing to February 2023 and lists CNY 208 million in subscriptions. A separate transfer between shareholders did not increase the company’s registered capital.
Source · www1.hkexnews.hk ↗Series B
数亿元人民币（exact figure undisclosed）
Qiming and Legend announced this financing in September 2022. The February 2023 B1 close is documented separately in Zhipu’s IPO prospectus.
Led by Qiming Venture Partners, Legend Capital.
Source · qimingvc.com ↗Series A
CNY152 million
Zhipu’s IPO prospectus says the Series A closed in May 2022 and lists CNY 152 million in subscription consideration.
Source · www1.hkexnews.hk ↗Founding Round
$5.6M · $53M valuation
Securities Times reported that the founding investment was CNY 40 million at a CNY 375 million post-money valuation.
Led by China Science & Technology Innovation. Participation included Huakong Technology Transfer Co., Ltd..
Source · stcn.com ↗Funding Round
CNY3 billion
Zhipu raised the round as it worked to improve its large language models and bring them to more paying customers.
Participation included Legend Capital.
Source · scmp.com ↗Funding Round
more than CNY1 billion
The round brought in Hangzhou state-backed capital as Zhipu expanded work on its domestic AI models.
Participation included Hangzhou City Investment Group Industrial Fund, Shangcheng Capital.
Source · reuters.com ↗Funding Round
CNY500 million
Zhuhai Huafa said its investment would support development of Zhipu’s GLM foundation models and the ecosystem around them.
Participation included Huafa Group.
Source · reuters.com ↗Post-IPO Placement
HK$31,410.64 million gross proceeds
The filing distinguishes announcement and completion dates and gross from net proceeds. The displayed amount is gross proceeds in the original currency.
Source · www1.hkexnews.hk ↗Post-IPO Placement and Convertible Bonds
$5B
Zhipu raised capital through a placement of new H shares and a separate sale of zero-coupon convertible bonds denominated in renminbi and settled in US dollars.
Source · reuters.com ↗
Zhipu AI Founding Team
Zhipu AI grew out of Tsinghua University in 2019. Its founding team included researchers from the university’s Knowledge Engineering Group, alongside Liu Debing (刘德兵), who chaired the company.
- Tang Jie (唐杰) — Chief Scientist. Tsinghua computer-science professor who led the KEG lab.
- Zhang Peng (张鹏) — CEO. From Tsinghua's KEG lab.
Zhipu AI Products
Zhipu AI Company Development
GLM Research Reaches Outside Developers
Zhipu grew from a Tsinghua research spinout into the developer of the GLM family and Z.ai platform. The platform provides a route for others to use the company's models in applications, while tools such as GLM-OCR show how the work also reaches specific document tasks.
Zhipu AI Competitive Landscape
General Models and Document Processing
Zhipu and other model developers can be compared at the general API layer. GLM-OCR introduces a more specific question: whether a buyer wants a model to run within its own document pipeline or a managed parsing service such as Reducto that returns structured output.
FAQ
Why did Zhipu split its September raise into equity plus convertible bonds?
The two-part structure traded immediacy for flexibility: after months of share-price pressure, a straight placement at a 10% discount would have diluted harder. The ~US$3B zero-coupon notes — RMB-denominated, USD-settled, convertible at HK$892.50, a 25% premium — let buyers underwrite the discount now and optionality on recovery later, with a mandatory-redemption floor from February 2027.
What does "the world's first listed large-model company" actually mean?
When Zhipu landed on HKEX on January 8, 2026, no frontier-lab had gone public anywhere — the IPO priced the category itself, opening at a ~HK$51 billion market cap before the greenshoe added ~HK$633 million in February.
Why should a listed company’s placement price be separated from its market capitalization?
A placement specifies the price paid for newly issued shares. Market capitalization depends on a share price and the relevant share count at a stated time. Neither gross proceeds nor a discount to a previous close establishes a private-company post-money valuation. Zhipu's July filing should therefore be read as a public share placement.
Why do Chinese state funds appear so heavily in Zhipu's cap table?
Because the money came bundled with demand: Zhuhai's investment carried a city-level GLM space, Sichuan's a provincial foundation-model deployment. For a state fund, a stake in Zhipu is also procurement — which is why local capital from Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Zhuhai recurs across the pre-IPO rounds.
How is Zhipu's September convertible different from a normal bond?
It pays no coupon, is priced in renminbi but settled in dollars, and converts at a 25% premium to the concurrent placement — closer to delayed equity than debt. The mandatory redemption from 2027-02-18 exists so holders aren't left holding the bond if the shares never clear the conversion price.
Why do Hong Kong market prices and private financing valuations need separate labels?
A quoted market capitalization changes with the share price and share count, while a private-round valuation is tied to a particular transaction. Zhipu's history crosses these contexts. Keep currency, valuation date and transaction type visible rather than drawing one continuous like-for-like valuation series.