Ex-ByteDance intern Tian Keyu raises nearly $30M for world-model startup
Former ByteDance intern Tian Keyu has started a "world model" company that has raised several tens of millions of dollars — nearly $30 million — at a post-money valuation of about $200 million (roughly 1.4 billion yuan), according to a 36Kr affiliate report, with 5Y Capital partner Meng Xing incubating and leading the investment. Tian had been sued by ByteDance over interfering with internal model training during his 2024 internship; foreign media citing the verdict say the court ordered him to pay ByteDance 500,000 yuan for breach of contract and forfeit all of his salary. Tian says the roughly 10-person startup has built an AI "dictionary" of 200,000 symbols to help models process video, plans to train on 100 million hours of video, and aims to show off the technology at live events before releasing a full model in 2027.
World models are one of this year's most heavily funded AI bets, and this round shows investors still paying a premium for elite research credentials even before a product, company name or technical route is public.