Physical AI Foundation Model Firm XIRRA Raises Hundreds of Millions in Seed and Angel Rounds
Xirang Kaiwu (XIRRA), a Chinese physical AI startup founded by former Huawei Cloud CTO Li Yin and Professor Zhang Hanwang, has completed consecutive seed and angel funding rounds totaling hundreds of millions of yuan, reaching a $500 million valuation. The company is developing a Large Physics Model (LPM) for robotics and other physical intelligence applications. Funds will support pre-training, data infrastructure, and talent acquisition.
IllustrationEditorial responsibility
- No named human review is recorded for this page.
- Reports are grouped by semantic similarity and deterministic rules. Language models may assist titles, summaries, translation and cross-source analysis; the page reads the event directly, while its address stays stable when the title changes.
- Summary covers the current reports
Cross-source coverage
Common ground
- Both sides agree the XIRRA team has strong engineering skills, proven by building 10,000-GPU clusters and working on 200 industry projects.
- Both agree that physical AI is a hard, unsolved problem with big potential for the future.
- Both recognize that the $500 million valuation is based on the team's track record and strategic positioning, not on a finished product.
Points of contention
- The Eastern Agent sees XIRRA as a breakthrough in physical AI, while the Neutral Agent views it as a risky bet on talent without proven technology.
- The Eastern Agent argues that China is leapfrogging the West in physical AI, but the Neutral Agent says no one has solved it yet and the race hasn't really started.
- The Eastern Agent believes the Bellman equation approach is a novel foundation, while the Neutral Agent says it's been tried before and failed in open environments.
- The Eastern Agent sees the private VC funding as proof of state-market alignment, but the Neutral Agent calls it hype and FOMO from investors.
Blind spots
- Neither side fully addresses how XIRRA's approach will handle the unpredictable, open-world conditions outside controlled settings like factories.
- Both overlook the possibility that the team's past success in engineering might not translate to the scientific breakthrough needed for physical AI.
- The debate ignores the role of international competition and export controls, which could limit XIRRA's access to key hardware or markets.
WorldAttention’s read
XIRRA is a high-stakes bet on a talented team with a strong engineering record, but its $500 million valuation is based on potential, not proof. The Eastern Agent argues that China's state-market synergy and execution focus give it an edge in the race for physical AI, while the Neutral Agent counters that the technology is unproven and the Bellman-based approach has already failed in similar attempts. Both sides agree the problem is hard and the team is capable, but they disagree on whether this is a genuine breakthrough or just a well-funded hypothesis. The real test will be whether XIRRA can turn its infrastructure and talent into a working system that handles real-world physics, not just controlled environments.
Reporting timeline
Huawei AI Veterans Found Xirang Kaiwu, Raise Hundreds of Millions for Physics Model
Xirang Kaiwu, a Chinese startup founded by two former Huawei AI leaders, has raised hundreds of millions of yuan in seed and angel funding, reaching a $500 million valuation. The company is developing a Large Physics Model (LPM) to enable AI to understand and predict physical world dynamics, targeting applications in robotics, drug discovery, and weather forecasting. Led by CEO Li Yin, former Huawei Cloud CTO, and Chief Scientist Zhang Hanwang, a leading researcher in causal machine learning, the firm aims to build a foundational model for the physical world. The LPM is based on the Bellman equation for optimal long-term decision-making, combining world model and policy model capabilities. The company claims top global rankings in trajectory accuracy and physical adherence on the WorldArena 2.0 benchmark. Funds will be used for pre-training, data infrastructure, and talent acquisition. The startup plans to commercialize via a three-layer model: a general L0 base model, L1 domain-specific models, and L2 application models, starting with robotics.
Physical AI Startup Xirang Kaiwu Raises Hundreds of Millions in Seed and Angel Funding
Xirang Kaiwu (息壤开物), a Physical AI startup founded two months ago, has completed hundreds of millions of yuan in seed and angel funding rounds, led by Dunhong Asset with participation from Huakong Fund, Sanhua Holdings, and others, reaching a valuation of $500 million. The company is developing a Large Physics Model (LPM) to understand physical laws, predict state evolution, and plan long-term actions, aiming to become a foundational platform for the physical AI era. CEO Li Yin, formerly CTO of Huawei Cloud's large model division, and Chief Scientist Zhang Hanwang, a Huawei multimodal chief scientist, lead the team. The funds will be used for pre-training the LPM, building real-world interaction data, and hiring talent. The company achieved top rankings in trajectory accuracy and physical adherence at the WorldArena 2.0 competition. Its commercialization strategy involves a three-layer model: a general L0 foundation model, L1 domain-specific models, and L2 application models for sectors like robotics, autonomous driving, and drug discovery.
Read sourcePhysical AI Startup Xirang Kaiwu Raises Hundreds of Millions in Seed and Angel Rounds
On September 23, Jiemian News reported that Physical AI startup Xirang Kaiwu has completed consecutive seed and angel financing rounds, accumulating total funding of hundreds of millions of yuan. The rounds were led by Dunhong Asset, with participation from Huakong Fund, Sanhua Holdings, Yinxinggu Capital, Zeran Capital, Benjian Fund, Shanghai Angel Association, and Biaopu Investment. According to the company, its valuation has reached $500 million. Founded in July of this year by former Huawei Cloud LLM CTO Li Yin, the company also disclosed that current Huawei multimodal chief scientist Zhang Hanwang will serve as Xirang Kaiwu's co-founder and chief scientist. The company primarily develops a physical foundation model (LPM) for robotics and other physical intelligence scenarios.
Read sourceShow 2 older updatesHide older updates
Physics AI Model Firm XIRRA Raises Hundreds of Millions in Seed and Angel Rounds
XIRRA (Xirang Kaiwu), a physics-based AI model company, announced it has completed consecutive seed and angel funding rounds totaling hundreds of millions of yuan. The rounds were led by Dunhong Asset, with participation from Huakong Fund, Sanhua Holdings, Ginkgo Valley Capital, Zeran Capital, Benjian Fund, Shanghai Angel Association, and Biaopu Investment. The company is valued at $500 million. Proceeds will be used for pre-training of native physics AI models, building real physical interaction data, recruiting core R&D talent, and scenario validation. Founded by former Huawei Cloud LLM CTO Li Yin and Nanyang Technological University Professor Zhang Hanwang, XIRRA's self-developed native physics foundation model LPM recently achieved first place globally in trajectory accuracy and top three in physical compliance at the WorldArena 2.0 global finals.
Read sourcePhysical AI Foundation Model Firm XIRRA Raises Hundreds of Millions in Seed and Angel Rounds
XIRRA (息壤开物), a physical foundation model company, announced it has completed consecutive seed and angel funding rounds totaling hundreds of millions of yuan. The rounds were led by Dunhong Asset, with participation from Huakong Fund, Sanhua Holdings, Yinxinggu Capital, Zeran Capital, Benjian Fund, Shanghai Angel Association, and Biaopu Investment. The company is valued at $500 million. Proceeds will be used for pre-training of native physical AI models, building real physical interaction data, recruiting core R&D talent, and scenario validation. XIRRA was co-founded by Li Yin, former CTO of Huawei Cloud's large model division, and Professor Zhang Hanwang from Nanyang Technological University. Its self-developed native physical foundation model, LPM, recently achieved first place globally in trajectory accuracy and top three in physical compliance at the WorldArena 2.0 global finals.