China's Sand.ai raises $45M Series A+ led by Wangsu for video-generation models
What's the deal? Sand.ai, a Chinese video-generation model startup, has raised US$41.3M in a Series A+ round led by WangsuDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Technology, according to a company filing dated September 2026. Founded in January 2024, Sand.ai develops visual content-generation models and video-model application products.
The mechanics: Wangsu will subscribe to newly issued Series A+ preferred shares in Sand.ai's Cayman entity, taking a 4.3963% stake after the deal closes. As a transitional step, Wangsu first provided US$41.3M in convertible debt to Shanghai Sandai TechnologyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and received Series A+ warrants.
Why it stands out: The round sits in roughly the 20th percentile by size — modest against the headline AI raises dominating the sector. It lands in a market where compute costs and high-end GPU supply constraints are pushing companies toward software optimisation to squeeze more from existing hardware.
The signal: China's AI cloud market reached US$9.41B in 2025, with enterprise token usage growing roughly 16-fold in a year, per IDC — a backdrop that helps explain investor appetite for video-generation players like Sand.ai, even at smaller cheque sizes.
Read more: sohu.com
Image credit: Leon Terra