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The round brings HiDream.ai’s total financing over the past three months to more than RMB 2.1 billion and marks its entry into unicorn status

BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 27 July 2026 – HiDream.ai, a global large-model AI technology company, has announced the completion of a RMB 1.5 billion Series C financing round. The round was co-led by the National Social Security Fund Sichuan Revitalization Sci-Tech Innovation Fund, ICBC Capital, Hongyi Asset Management and Dunhong Capital.

The screenshot of this leaderboard was taken on June 22, 2026.
The screenshot of this leaderboard was taken on June 22, 2026.

New investors including Xiamen ITG Capital, Shanghai Film New Vision Fund, Hubei Yangtze River Industry Investment Group, Huace Film & TV, Hangyuan Capital, Chuangyunhai Capital, Huafu Investment, Yuhang Financial Holding, Bank of Communications Capital and Wakamatsu Fund also participated. Existing shareholders including Hefei Industrial Investment, Fortune Capital, Kingpo Investment, Jinhua Capital, Zhongzhe Capital and Caixin Capital continued to back the company.

The round brings together national-level long-term capital, regional government-backed investment platforms, industry investors and venture capital firms. HiDream.ai said the funding will support its development of native omni-modal world models and the expansion of its product and commercial ecosystem.

The Series C follows two earlier rounds completed within the past three months, bringing HiDream.ai’s total financing during the period to more than RMB 2.1 billion. With the latest round, the company has entered unicorn status.

“Forward-looking judgment on AI technology and continued innovation in large-model architecture have always been core to HiDream.ai’s growth,” said Mei Tao, founder and CEO of HiDream.ai. “We believe the evolution from multimodal AI to native omni-modal world models is an essential path toward AGI. With this funding, we will continue building the foundation for native omni-modal world models and work with global developers and partners to expand the boundaries of intelligence.”

Long-term Capital Backs HiDream.ai’s AI Roadmap

The round includes national-level long-term capital, technology-focused financial investors and multiple regional government-backed investment platforms.

The participation of the National Social Security Fund Sichuan Revitalization Sci-Tech Innovation Fund as a co-lead investor reflects growing institutional support for foundational AI technologies and critical AI infrastructure.

Regional investment platforms including Hefei Industrial Investment, Xiamen ITG Capital, Yuhang Financial Holding and Hubei Yangtze River Industry Investment Group also participated or increased their exposure, providing support across capital, industrial resources and application scenarios.

Existing shareholder Hefei Industrial Investment has backed HiDream.ai across three consecutive rounds, underscoring long-term confidence in the company and its alignment with Hefei’s strategy to develop a hard-tech and AI innovation hub.

HiDream.ai said support from long-term institutional capital and regional government-backed investors will help provide full-cycle backing for model research, product development and industrial deployment.

Industry Investors Deepen Content and Entertainment Partnerships

The Series C round also introduced leading film and entertainment industry investors, including Shanghai Film New Vision Fund and Huace Film & TV.

HiDream.ai said these partnerships will expand its access to film and entertainment resources, production scenarios and high-quality content data, supporting innovation in AI-native content production.

The company has been working with Shanghai Film Co., Ltd. on next-generation content production, cinema scenario upgrades, AI-powered cross-screen marketing, and AI-enabled large-screen production standards and workflows.

HiDream.ai also plans to collaborate with Huace Film & TV on AI agent-assisted content creation, corpus co-development, premium content co-production and full-chain IP development.

Together with earlier cooperation with Hubei Yangtze River Film Group, the addition of Shanghai Film New Vision Fund and Huace Film & TV further expands HiDream.ai’s role in China’s film and entertainment ecosystem and provides richer data and application scenarios for its video models.

From Native Omni-modal Models to World Models

HiDream.ai is among China’s earliest companies focused on multimodal generative AI. Built on its self-developed HiDream model family, the company has developed a portfolio of AI products and a global commercial network across content creation, marketing, and film and entertainment production.

Earlier this year, HiDream.ai’s native omni-modal HiDream-O1 model series, based on its original UiT, or Unified Transformer, architecture, achieved leading results on the text-to-image leaderboard of Artificial Analysis, a global independent AI model evaluation and analytics platform. The open-source version ranked first globally, while the closed-source version ranked among the global top three, positioning HiDream.ai among the leading players in visual generative AI.

At the product and commercialization level, HiDream.ai is pursuing a dual-engine strategy combining foundation models and AI agents. Built on the HiDream-O1 model series, its “1+1+3” framework includes one foundation model, one Token Hub platform for standardized model capability output, and three application areas: commercial marketing, film and entertainment production, and content creation.

At WAIC 2026, HiDream.ai introduced vivago R1, a multimodal creative agent with long-form video generation and editing capabilities. The “R” in R1 stands for long-horizon reasoning, reflecting a shift in AI-assisted creative production from generating isolated assets to planning, orchestrating and executing longer creative workflows.

HiDream.ai’s products currently serve users in more than 100 countries and regions, including over 50 million professional users and more than 40,000 enterprise customers. The company said these commercial deployments validate the practical application of its native omni-modal architecture and provide a foundation for future scale.

HiDream.ai said its long-term vision is to move from multimodal AI to omni-modal AI and ultimately world models — systems capable of understanding, reasoning about and constructing dynamic environments. The company will continue advancing both large-model technology and AI agent products, accelerating the shift of AI from a tool to an intelligent partner.

Hashtag: #HiDreamAI

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About HiDream.ai

HiDream.ai is a large-model AI technology company focused on native omni-modal intelligence and world-model development. Built on its self-developed HiDream model family, the company develops foundation models, AI agent products and AI applications across commercial marketing, film and entertainment production, and content creation.HiDream.ai’s products serve users in more than 100 countries and regions, including over 50 million professional users and more than 40,000 enterprise customers.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s falling public support is sharpening investor concern that her government may respond with tax cuts and heavier spending, adding pressure on the yen and Japan’s government bond market.

A July poll showed approval for Takaichi’s Cabinet dropping to 57% from 69% in June, as households grew more dissatisfied with rising living costs. Other surveys have also pointed to weakening support, though the level varies considerably among polling organisations.

The decline has placed greater scrutiny on the government’s economic strategy. Takaichi has defended an expansionary programme built around public and private investment in strategic industries, arguing that stronger productivity and economic growth will ultimately restore confidence in the currency.

Market strategists see a growing risk that weaker ratings could push the administration towards measures offering faster political relief. These could include reductions in consumption taxes, expanded subsidies or additional spending aimed at cushioning households from food and energy inflation.

Such steps may prove popular with voters but could unsettle investors unless the government provides a credible funding plan. Japan already carries one of the world’s largest public debt burdens, exceeding twice the size of its economy, while higher interest rates are raising the cost of servicing that debt.

The yen has been trading near 160 to the dollar, increasing the price of imported fuel, food and industrial materials. Its weakness has become a political problem because the benefits to exporters and tourism are being offset by pressure on household purchasing power.

Takaichi has rejected the argument that government policy alone determines exchange rates. She has said stronger investment, competitiveness and economic expansion are essential to rebuilding market trust, while acknowledging that currency movements reflect a range of domestic and international factors.

Investors remain sensitive to any indication that the government could pursue fiscal expansion while discouraging tighter monetary policy. The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark rate to 1% in June, the highest level in more than three decades, and economists expect another increase before the end of 2026 if inflation or yen weakness intensifies.

The central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged at its next policy meeting while signalling that further tightening remains possible. Its challenge is to contain import-driven inflation without weakening an economy facing demographic pressures, soft consumption and a heavy public debt load.

More than four-fifths of economists surveyed this month expect the policy rate to reach 1.25% by December. A rise could support the yen by narrowing the interest-rate gap with the United States, but it would also put upward pressure on government borrowing costs.

Long-dated government bond yields have already climbed to levels not seen for decades. Traders are demanding higher returns as the central bank reduces its dominance of the bond market and investors reassess the sustainability of fiscal policy in an inflationary environment.

Takaichi’s growth blueprint envisages about ¥370 trillion in public and private investment through 2040 across 17 strategic sectors. Artificial intelligence, semiconductors, defence, energy security and advanced manufacturing are among the areas targeted for support.

The government says the programme will raise productivity, reduce vulnerabilities in critical supply chains and lift Japan’s underlying growth rate. Critics argue that its scale and financing remain insufficiently defined, increasing the possibility of additional bond issuance or pressure for higher taxes later.

A proposed temporary suspension of the consumption tax on food has emerged as a particularly sensitive issue. The measure could ease household costs but would also reduce government revenue unless accompanied by spending cuts or alternative funding.

Political pressure is building inside the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as lawmakers consider how to reverse the erosion in public confidence. Speculation about a Cabinet reshuffle has increased, although Takaichi has given no indication that she plans to retreat from her investment-led strategy.

Her political position remains stronger than the approval figures alone suggest. The Liberal Democratic Party secured a commanding majority in the February election, giving the government substantial room to pass legislation. However, falling popularity could make lawmakers less willing to support policies seen as worsening inflation or market instability.

Foreign-exchange traders are watching whether the government steps up verbal warnings or direct intervention to support the yen. Previous interventions have produced only temporary gains when they were not backed by a sustained change in interest-rate expectations or fiscal policy.

Japan’s large pool of domestic savings and the substantial holdings of government debt by local institutions continue to provide stability. The country also possesses sizeable foreign reserves and remains a major external creditor.

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