One of China’s most highly anticipated artificial intelligence startups is undergoing a significant change of direction.
Light Year, which was founded merely four months ago by Wang Huiwen, a co-founder of Meituan, with the ambition of becoming the “OpenAI for China”, is getting bought out. In a filing released on Thursday, Meituan announced that it will be fully acquiring Light Year for $233.7 million in cash.
The deal also includes $50.66 million worth of debt and paying the AI startup’s investors, Qimai, which is controlled by Meituan’s current CEO Wang Xing, $5 million, as well as HongShan, which was called Sequoia China before the recent restructuring of the fund, $28 million.
The acquisition came shortly after Meituan announced Wang Huiwen was …
