Meituan buys out AI start-up Light Year for US$281m as delivery services giant makes a move in ChatGPT space
- The buyout comes after Meituan announced that Light Year founder Wang Huiwen had stepped down from his corporate roles at delivery firm
- Beijing-based Light Year is among a slew of new Chinese AI start-ups to emerge amid the country’s ChatGPT-inspired frenzy
Meituan is buying out Light Year, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up established by a co-founder and ex-director at the food delivery services giant, for a total consideration of US$281 million, as Chinese Big Tech firms step up their interest in AI.
The deal involves US$233.7 million in cash and 336.9 million yuan (US$47 million) in assumed liabilities. Upon completion of the acquisition, the Beijing-based company will hold 100 per cent of Light Year, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.
The buyout comes just days after Meituan announced that Wang Huiwen, the former executive who founded Light Year four months ago, had stepped down from his corporate roles at the company, citing “personal health reasons”.
Wang resigned as a non-executive director, a member of the Meituan board’s nomination committee and an authorised representative of the company, according to a filing by the firm to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Sunday.
Meituan said that the acquisition, which will give it access to leading artificial general intelligence (AGI) technology and related Light Year talent, will help it to compete in the rapidly growing AI sector, according to the filing.
Beijing-based Light Year is among a slew of new Chinese AI start-ups to emerge amid the country’s ChatGPT-inspired frenzy. Ever since Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched ChatGPT late last year to popular acclaim, the country’s tech firms have been in a race to produce worthy competitors.