Alibaba led a $293 million round into Shengshu Technology on April 10, valuing the Vidu maker at $2 billion. The round positions Vidu as the leading Chinese challenger in AI video generation, alongside Kuaishou’s Kling and ByteDance’s Seedance.
The funding comes two weeks after Vidu Q1 shipped. Q1 generates 5-second 1080p clips from text or up to seven reference images, with native 48kHz audio synthesis inside the same model. The 7-reference pipeline is Vidu’s differentiator: multi-character consistency without the face-drift that breaks Runway and Pika outputs.
Chinese AI video is consolidating around three funded players. Kling 3.0 holds the top ELO benchmark. Seedance 2.0 leads character consistency on dance and rhythmic content. Vidu Q1 targets the reference-image cohort at the cheapest entry price: $10/month Standard.
OpenAI’s Sora app shut down on March 24, 2026, leaving no American consumer-facing video player at comparable price points. Runway, Luma, and Pika remain in the professional tier above $15/month. The competitive center of AI video has shifted east.
Sources
- Alibaba Leads $300 Million Bet on AI Video Generator Shengshu (Bloomberg)
- Vidu Q1 launches, aims to lower VFX industry barrier (VentureBeat)
Sources
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