Beijing Lanzhou Technology

Beijing Lanzhou Technology (Langboat), established in June 2021, is a cognitive intelligence company focused on developing and applying large language models (LLMs). The company was founded by Dr. Zhou Ming, a globally recognized expert in Natural Language Processing (NLP). Dr. Zhou's extensive background includes over two decades at Microsoft Research Asia, where he served as vice president and led research and development in NLP, contributing to core technologies in Microsoft products like Windows, Office, and Bing. His journey began with a Ph.D. from Harbin Institute of Technology in 1991, where he developed one of China's first Chinese-English machine translation systems. This deep expertise in machine translation and NLP forms the foundational basis of Langboat's technological pursuits.

Langboat's core business revolves around its proprietary "Mengzi" series of pre-trained language models. These models serve as the foundation for a suite of enterprise-level solutions offered through both SaaS and on-premise deployments. The company's product portfolio is designed to assist enterprises with digital transformation by providing tools for intelligent search, document analysis, machine translation, and text generation. Langboat targets several vertical markets, with a notable focus on the financial sector, where its technology is applied to intelligent investment research and public opinion analysis to aid in investment decisions. Other applications include marketing copywriting, intelligent customer service, and creating enterprise knowledge bases. Revenue is generated by providing these specialized AI-powered services and solutions to corporate clients, including notable names like Huawei, Transn, and China AMC.

The company has secured significant financial backing from prominent investors. After an initial incubation with Sinovation Ventures, Langboat raised several hundred million yuan in a Pre-A+ funding round in March 2023, led by Beijing Zhongguancun Science City Co., with participation from previous investors like Eight Roads and Lenovo Capital. This capital is being used to further the research and development of its core technologies and to expand its marketing efforts. Langboat has received several accolades, including winning the first prize at the HICOOL 2021 Global Entrepreneurship Competition and being recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the Davos Forum in 2023.

Keywords: large language models, natural language processing, cognitive intelligence, enterprise AI, machine translation, financial NLP, Mengzi model, text generation, intelligent search, document analysis, public opinion analysis, investment research, intelligent customer service, enterprise knowledge base, Dr. Zhou Ming, Sinovation Ventures, AI solutions, SaaS, on-premise AI