Recently, Natural Selection (Shenzhen) Intelligence Co., Ltd., a company in the AI-powered companion sector, officially announced the completion of a new round of financing exceeding $30 million. This round was jointly led by several prominent institutions, including Alibaba, Ant Group, Qiming Venture Partners, Five Source Capital, Genesis Partners, and Yunshi Capital, with Starhan Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor.Notably, following the completion of this funding round, Kaiying Network, a well-known domestic gaming company, remains the largest institutional investor in Natural Selection aside from the company’s founders and management team. This continues the deep partnership between the two companies in the AI+gaming convergence sector and underscores Kaiying Network’s firm commitment to expanding its presence in the AI companion sector.
It is reported that the partnership between Kaiying Network and Natural Selection began on March 31, 2025, when Kaiying Network, through its wholly-owned overseas subsidiary Shenghe (Hong Kong) Network Technology Co., Ltd., signed an investment agreement with Natural Selection’s overseas controlling entity. As the lead investor in this round of financing, Kaiying Network’s cumulative stake in the entity exceeded 16% following the investment, with co-investors primarily consisting of top-tier U.S. dollar-denominated funds.Founded in February 2024, Natural Selection’s core team brings together multidisciplinary talent from the world’s leading technology companies, gaming firms, and renowned universities. With diverse backgrounds in large AI models, internet products, and commercial mobile game development, the company focuses its core business on the AI-powered companion sector. Its technical capabilities and market prospects have garnered widespread recognition from the capital markets.
Natural Selection’s flagship product is EVE, the world’s first 3D AI companion app. Leveraging proprietary large-scale dialogue and memory models, combined with billions of words of exclusive data, the product delivers a highly realistic multimodal interactive experience. It uses AI-powered multimodal tools to meet users’ companionship needs, while incorporating 3D interactive gameplay and cinematic-quality art design—distinguishing itself from the companionship models found in traditional games.Kaiying Network previously stated that its investment in Natural Selection aims to leverage the complementary strengths of both parties. By utilizing Natural Selection’s AI technology, Kaiying Network seeks to expand its “AI+IP” strategic footprint, while leveraging its own game development and operation expertise to help EVE accelerate its expansion into the domestic market and achieve commercial monetization.
The completion of this new round of financing will provide a strong boost to Natural Selection’s development.According to official disclosures, the funds raised in this round will primarily be used for technological iterations of large AI models, optimization and upgrades of the flagship product EVE, and market promotion. Currently, EVE has entered its second testing phase, focusing on optimizing character depth to enhance user immersion and refining the in-game monetization ecosystem. Pre-registration for the iOS version has officially begun, and the company has announced that the game will officially launch on March 14, 2026.
In addition, Kaiying Network mentioned in recent communications that its collaboration with Natural Selection has made substantial progress. Moving forward, the company will leverage its proven expertise in game publishing and operations to support EVE’s localization in the Chinese market. At the same time, it will explore the integration of AI companion technology into its own game IPs, driving innovation in the “AI + gaming” sector and achieving mutual benefits for both parties.
原创文章，作者：航旗，禁止转载：https://youxichaguan.com/en/archives/195338
