Content / Creator EconomyChina
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JOURNEY · DETAIL
Huaxi Yunke: AI Virtual Human Live Streaming Agency, Helping Brands Achieve Low-Cost and High-Conversion
Founded: Xiaolian (Sister Xiaolian), Zhang Hao · Huaxi Yunke Technology Co., Ltd.
JOURNEY
Key Fields
FIELD STAMPSIndustryContent / Creator Economy
RegionChina
ScaleMid-size
ChannelOther
Origin
After encountering setbacks in the traditional modeling industry, founders Xiaolian and Zhang Hao turned to AI virtual humans, concluding that virtual humans could continuously output images at a low cost and reduce reliance on real-life anchors. Starting in 2022, they self-developed a model and entered e-commerce live streaming agency operations. In June 2022, the first self-developed model completed training and set up a cloud rendering pipeline, with the first batch of Beta users being three small and medium-sized e-commerce merchants. This technical validation laid the foundation for subsequent emotion-perception plugins and scaled agency operations.
Milestones
2022
Product R&D Turning Point
The first self-developed AI virtual human model completed training, and a cloud rendering pipeline was established. The first batch of Beta users consisted of three small and medium-sized e-commerce merchants, with cumulative live streaming watch time exceeding 2 million minutes, validating technical usability. This technical validation laid the groundwork for the subsequent emotion-perception plugin and scaled agency operations.
2023
Market Pilot Failure
When providing virtual human live streaming for a large apparel brand for the first time, customer complaints arose due to unnatural model expressions, resulting in first-month revenue of only 1.5 million RMB. The team re-optimized the expression transfer algorithm and suspended such partnerships. This complaint prompted the team to prioritize expression naturalness as the product's top priority.
2023
Product Iteration Turning Point
The emotion-perception plugin was launched, enabling virtual humans in the live streaming room to switch scripts in real-time based on barrage emotional tone, boosting single-session GMV to 300 million RMB and increasing the customer renewal rate from 45% to 78%. The emotion-perception plugin subsequently became its core differentiator from generic virtual humans and propelled customer renewal rates to new heights.
2024
Scale Expansion Growth
Completed a Series B financing round of 200 million RMB, expanding the team size from 30 to 120 people, launched an overseas content team, achieved cumulative GMV exceeding 2 billion RMB, and monthly active platform users surpassed 150,000. This round of financing scaled the team from a small group of dozen people into an organizational scale capable of undertaking overseas content and scaled agency operations.
2025
Industry Breakthrough PMF
Cumulative GMV for virtual human live streaming sales reached 6 billion RMB, with a single-session peak GMV of 800 million RMB, becoming a benchmark case in China's virtual human live streaming industry and winning the industry media '2025 Digital Marketing Golden Eagle Award'. This scale granted it bargaining power across both agency operations and tool licensing lines.
Turning Points
- In 2023, the first collaboration with a major brand received negative reviews due to an unnatural model, forcing the team to rebuild the rendering pipeline.
- In late 2023, the launch of the emotion-perception plugin tripled GMV.
- In 2025, achieving 6 billion RMB in GMV validated the scalable feasibility of the business model.
Failures & Pitfalls
- In 2023, the live streaming project for a large apparel brand incurred a loss of 1.5 million RMB.
- In 2024, attempting to build an independent ad placement system led to a 30% increase in costs, forcing a return to partnering with DSPs.
- Early failure to establish rigorous content review processes resulted in a regulatory warning from the platform for a compliance violation in promotional content.
关键成功要素
- Technological iteration is the key to breaking through traffic bottlenecks.
- Emotion perception and real-time script matching significantly enhance conversion rates.
- Timely capital injection supports rapid team expansion.
- Cross-border multi-language capabilities open up overseas markets.
Lessons
- Naturalness and interactive experience of virtual humans must be ensured prior to commercialization.
- Single-channel reliance carries high risks; self-developed ad placement capabilities need to be built.
- User data closed-loop is core to improving repeat purchases.
- Quickly iterate products based on negative feedback, otherwise you risk being surpassed by competitors.
Core Data
- 2023 Annual Revenue：50 million RMB (publicly available data basis, independent verification unverified)
- 2024 Financing Amount：200 million RMB (publicly available data basis, independent verification unverified)
- 2025 Cumulative GMV：6 billion RMB (publicly available data basis, independent verification unverified)
- 2025 Team Size：120 people (publicly available data basis, independent verification unverified)
- 2025 Paid Customers：1,500 companies (publicly available data basis, independent verification unverified)
Competitors / Peers
Major industry competitors include NetEase Fuxi's AI anchor platform, ByteDance Volcano Engine's virtual human live streaming solution, Alibaba Lingxi AI live streaming, and Xiaohongshu's AI content creation tools. They each focus differently on technical depth, content ecosystems, and traffic entrances. Huaxi Yunke forms differentiated competition in the mid-to-high-end e-commerce live streaming market through its self-developed emotion-perception plugin and cross-language live streaming capabilities.