ANT

Robbyant, Ant Group's embodied AI division, has begun seeking external funding, marking its fourth capital-raising effort. The unit is focused on developing a general-purpose 'robot brain' and advancing technologies for embodied AI commercialization.

Ant Group's three spin-offs are accelerating capital-raising efforts to pursue independent growth after gaining operational autonomy in 2024. Ant Digital Technologies, one of the units, is preparing a financing round ahead of its initial public offering, as reported by STAR Market Daily.

Ant International, a subsidiary of Ant Group, raised US$1.2 billion in a Series A funding round to accelerate global expansion and innovation in merchant payments and account solutions. Existing investors Ant Group and Alibaba Group, along with undisclosed international institutional investors, participated in the equity financing.

Chinese tech giants including Ant Group, Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu are showcasing new AI agent products at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai to target enterprise clients, intensifying domestic competition in agent-based AI adoption.

Ant is a JavaScript runtime and ecosystem that includes a package manager (ants.land), a deployment platform, and Ant Desktop for building native desktop apps. The project aims to function as a cohesive platform while maintaining compatibility with the broader JavaScript ecosystem. It is currently in early development, with the author seeking feedback on its direction and features.

Ant Group, affiliated with Alibaba, led a 500 million yuan funding round in humanoid robotics company Zeroth. The company announced this move as part of its rapid expansion into humanoid robots through a dozen deals over 18 months.

Ant Group has overhauled Alipay into an AI platform with autonomous agents, introducing an interactive assistant named 'Ah Bao' to shift from a digital wallet to an AI-driven ecosystem. The update aims to position Alipay as a gateway for China’s next-generation internet.

A Russian drone strike hit the cargo ship ANT en route from Ukraine’s Odesa region to Turkey in the Black Sea, causing a fire and injuring two crew members. Ukraine’s Navy reported the vessel was evacuated and the blaze extinguished, attributing the attack to Russian forces.