West Lake Xinchen (Hangzhou) Technology

West Lake Xinchen (Hangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd. is an artificial intelligence research and development company founded in July 2021 by Dr. Lan Zhenzhong and incubated by Westlake University. The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, a city increasingly recognized as a major tech hub in China.

Dr. Lan, who holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University and is a former research scientist at Google, is the first author of the lightweight large language model "ALBERT". His academic and professional background in natural language processing and deep learning forms the foundation of the company, which has attracted a team of top AI talent from companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon. West Lake Xinchen's primary focus is on developing large-scale AI models that possess not only high intelligence but also high emotional intelligence, aiming to create more human-like and empathetic interactions. The company's goal is to build an AI that can provide companionship for one billion people.

The company has developed a three-layer product architecture consisting of the model layer, an intermediate layer, and an application layer. At its core is the self-developed "West Lake Large Model," a general-purpose model that has received government approval for generative AI services. Building on this foundation, West Lake Xinchen has launched several applications for both consumers and businesses. These include "Dream Diary" (造梦日记) for AI image and video generation, "Friday" (Friday) for AI-powered content writing, and "Liao Hui Xiao Tian" (聊会小天) for AI psychological counseling and companionship. More recently, the company developed "Xinchen Lingo," an end-to-end speech large model designed for highly responsive, human-like voice interaction with emotional perception. The company also offers customized industry-specific models for enterprise clients.

West Lake Xinchen serves both B2C and B2B markets, with over two million C-end users and more than 100 enterprise clients, including notable names like Tom Cat, Starbucks, and Alipay. Its business model includes API call fees and revenue sharing from new applications. The company has secured significant funding, including a Pre-A round led by Baidu Ventures and multiple strategic investments from the entertainment company Tom Cat, amounting to over 100 million RMB.

Keywords: large language models, emotional AI, conversational AI, generative AI, natural language processing, AI companionship, text generation, image generation, speech interaction model, West Lake Large Model, Lan Zhenzhong, Xinchen Lingo, AI psychological counseling, human-computer interaction, multi-modal AI, AI applications, enterprise AI solutions, AI ethics, deep learning, artificial intelligence services