StepFun raises a record 5 billion yuan and names Yin Qi chairman

Background

StepFun (阶跃星辰) is a Chinese AI company that builds large language models and the products that use them. Like many AI companies, it needed large amounts of capital to train models and to run its business. A Series B+ round is a later stage of venture financing, raised from investors who put money into a company that has already gone through earlier rounds.

What happened

On 28 January 2026 StepFun announced a Series B+ round of more than 5 billion yuan, about US$719 million. The round was described as a record for China's AI model sector.^[1]

The new investors included Shanghai Guotou, China Life Private Equity and Pudong Venture Capital. Existing backers Tencent and Qiming Venture Partners also took part.^[1]

Along with the funding, the company changed its leadership structure. Yin Qi, the founder of Megvii, was appointed chairman to oversee strategy. Jiang Daxin remained chief executive officer (CEO).^[1]

Key details

The funds were to support Shanghai's "AI + Terminal" strategy, which aims to put AI into smartphones and cars.^[1]

According to the report, StepFun's models were used on more than 42 million devices by the end of 2025. This came through partnerships with about 60% of China's major phone brands, including Oppo, Honor and ZTE.^[1]

StepFun's voice models and its AgentOS system were featured in Geely cars, and the company expected them to be deployed in more than one million vehicles by the end of 2026.^[1] AgentOS is the system name given in the report, and the figure is the company's expectation rather than a result already achieved.

Impact

The report describes the round as a record for China's AI model sector.^[1] The stated plan, to bring AI into phones and cars, links the company's funding to hardware makers and carmakers. The leadership change separates the chairman's role, which oversees strategy, from the CEO's role in running the company day to day.^[1] Readers should note that the figures on devices and vehicles are the company's own statements as reported, and that the deployment targets are forward-looking.