Sand.ai Raises CNY 300M Series A for Video Generation Foundation Models

Sand.ai Raises CNY 300M Series A

Sand.ai, a Beijing-based AI startup, has raised CNY 300 million in Series A funding. The round was announced on September 29, 2026, with 网宿科技 (Wangsu Science & Technology) participating as an investor.

What Sand.ai Does

Sand.ai builds foundation models for video generation and world simulation. The company positions its work as advancing toward general-purpose world models.

The startup is best known for MAGI, an open-source autoregressive video model. MAGI generates video chunk-by-chunk, enabling streaming, controllable, and arbitrary-length output.

Company Background

Sand.ai was founded in January 2024 by Yue Cao, a co-author of the Swin Transformer. Its core team is drawn from Microsoft Research Asia and Alibaba DAMO Academy.

Funding Details

• Round type: Series A
• Amount: CNY 300,000,000
• Announced: September 29, 2026
• Investors: 网宿科技 (Wangsu Science & Technology)

No lead investor was disclosed for the round.

Why It Matters

Sand.ai operates at the intersection of generative video and world simulation — two areas attracting significant attention as AI systems move toward modeling dynamic environments. Its open-source MAGI model gives the company a public footprint in autoregressive video generation, a technical approach that supports streaming and controllable output rather than fixed-length clips.

The company's founding team brings research pedigree from Microsoft Research Asia and Alibaba DAMO Academy, and its founder's connection to the Swin Transformer — a widely cited vision architecture — signals deep technical grounding in the model layer.

Acquisition Angle

For acquirers, Sand.ai represents a foundation-model asset in video generation and world simulation, backed by a research-heavy team and an open-source model with an established name. The Series A provides capital to scale model development and infrastructure.

Companies looking to add video generation or world-model capabilities — whether in media, gaming, simulation, or broader AI platform plays — may find Sand.ai's technical stack and team relevant. The presence of Wangsu Science & Technology as an investor also points to interest from the infrastructure and networking side of the market.

Summary

Sand.ai has raised CNY 300 million in Series A funding, announced September 29, 2026, with 网宿科技 (Wangsu Science & Technology) participating. The Beijing-based company builds foundation models for video generation and world simulation and is known for MAGI, an open-source autoregressive video model.