What Is KAI

Founded by Kai-Fu Lee, the artificial intelligence startup 01.ai is actively advancing its financing plans in preparation for an IPO in 2027. Lee plans to complete this round of financing around the time of 01.ai's first annual performance announcement. He did not disclose specific financing targets or potential investors. (Jin Shi)

According to monitoring by Beating, Kai-Fu Lee, founder and CEO of Zero One Infinity, revealed in an interview with Huxiu that the company 'plans to IPO in 2027' and is preparing for a new round of financing. In its overseas strategy, Zero One Infinity has clearly chosen to 'avoid the U.S. market,' focusing instead on Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Africa, with a primary emphasis on the 'sovereign AI' sector. Currently, Lee has been invited to join Kazakhstan's National AI Committee to help address localization challenges related to mixed-language voice in Russian, Kazakh, and English. In terms of commercialization, Lee disclosed that the 'order rate' for the company's 'Project One' is currently 'about 10% to 15%.' When dealing with major clients and government clients, Zero One Infinity prefers to adopt a model of 'co-creation' and 'joint ventures' (such as its joint venture with Charoen Pokphand Group to promote AI in poultry farming). Internally, Zero One Infinity has implemented a flat structure with DRI (Directly Responsible Individuals) and AI workers. In the management tool 'Kai-Fu AI' used internally, the system is already capable of reading meetings, analyzing organizations, identifying key talents, predicting employee turnover risks, and conducting strategic simulations. 'Future management relies on intelligent agents; middle management that only transmits information will no longer be needed,' Lee warned, stating that management that 'only manages people' will become extremely dangerous in the era of AI 2.0.

On May 28, during an internal speech for the third anniversary of Zero One, Kai-Fu Lee stated: "Next year marks the fourth year of Zero One, the year we achieve our original intentions and embark on a second entrepreneurial journey, as well as the year we establish a new paradigm of 'AI empowering industries'—while others use AI to modify workflows, we use AI to transform client financial reports. However, a new era does not arrive suddenly; it is a qualitative change accumulated from gradual quantitative changes over the past few years. More importantly, we have validated a truly healthy AI business path—our growth does not rely on loss-making volume but comes from high gross margins and high repeat purchases in our B2B ARR. This is the most honest business ballot. As for the hard indicators for the new era: we must secure contracts worth 1.5 to 2 billion this year and achieve significant revenue recognition to pave the way for our planned IPO. More critical than revenue is profit: in a certain quarter next year, we will become the first AI 2.0 company in China to achieve break-even profitability. While the industry is burning money to compete on parameters, we are determined to prove that AI companies can be self-sustaining, converting real customer value into real cash. On that day, don’t call us the 'Six Little Tigers', call us the 'Money Leopards'."