TecDo Tech Secures New Funding Round

Ex-Alibaba Employee Launches AI Startup for Global Markets, Attracts Top-Tier Investment

On August 20, Guangzhou-based AI marketing technology firm TecDo Tech (hereinafter "TecDo Tech") announced the successful completion of a new funding round. The round was led by Huatai Atlantic Fund, with participation from follow-on investors including Kunpeng Guangyuan, GAC Capital, and GSR Ventures.

The funding round, from inception to closure, spanned just two months, with investor interest significantly outstripping the available shares. Some investors were ultimately unable to secure a stake. In today's AI landscape, where valuations are varied and capital is increasingly cautious, such competition for shares is a rare sight.

What makes this story even more compelling is that TecDo Tech's founder, Li Shuhao, is a seasoned expert in global expansion, with prior experience at Huawei, UC, and Alibaba. He is widely regarded within the industry as "the individual with the deepest understanding of global traffic dynamics." Earlier this year, in February, TecDo Tech submitted its application for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with aspirations to become the "leading listed agent for overseas marketing."

How did an AI company founded by a former Alibaba employee manage to attract such high-caliber investors as Huatai Atlantic and GAC Capital?

Funding Secured in Record Time, Investors Vying for Stakes

Established in 2017, TecDo Tech specializes in AI marketing technology, offering comprehensive marketing solutions for enterprises seeking to expand globally. Its clientele spans multiple sectors, including e-commerce, gaming, and 3C digital products. In essence, it assists Chinese companies in taking their businesses international.

The investor lineup for this funding round is impressive.

The round was spearheaded by Huatai Atlantic Fund, a joint initiative by Atlantic Capital and Huatai Baoli Investment Management Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Huatai Insurance Group.

Atlantic Capital is a well-known entity in the global venture capital scene, with a portfolio that includes technology giants such as Alibaba, Meituan, ByteDance, Anthropic, and SHEIN. In 2017, when Atlantic Capital first invested in ByteDance, the latter was valued at around $20 billion. Today, ByteDance's valuation has soared to hundreds of billions of dollars.

This marks TecDo Tech as the first direct equity investment made by Huatai Atlantic Fund since its inception and the inaugural project in its RMB portfolio.

The follow-on investors also bring distinct industry expertise. Kunpeng Guangyuan has previously invested in companies like GDS Holdings and iSoftStone, while GAC Capital has stakes in projects such as Changxin Technology and Horizon Robotics.

There is a clear industrial rationale behind the investment in TecDo Tech.

As automakers accelerate their globalization efforts, the demand for localized operations and refined marketing strategies overseas continues to rise. TecDo Tech already has a strong presence in key markets such as Europe, the Americas, and Southeast Asia, creating a natural synergy between the two parties.

Furthermore, existing shareholder GSR Ventures also increased its investment. In the primary market, where information is often asymmetric, continuous investment by existing shareholders serves as a strong vote of confidence in the company's past performance.

The collective willingness of top-tier capital to invest is built on the solid foundation TecDo Tech has established over nearly a decade.

Since its inception, TecDo Tech's growth has closely paralleled the expansion of overseas digital marketing platforms. In 2018, it became an official partner of Google Ads and TikTok; in 2020, it gained official partner status with Meta; in 2023, it partnered with Snap; and in 2026, it secured official partner status with Apple Ads.

Today, TecDo Tech's operations span more than 200 countries and regions worldwide. By 2025, it will have served over 100,000 enterprises expanding overseas, with clients including SHEIN, Amazon, miHoYo, Tencent, NetEase, Huawei, DJI, Pop Mart, 37 Interactive Entertainment, and Kuro Games.

Source: TecDo Tech Prospectus

For investors, TecDo Tech is no longer just an AI startup with a concept. It boasts a long-standing global client base and channels, as well as AI products that are being implemented, along with a revenue model that has already been validated by commercial success.

And all of this is a testament to the years of planning by founder Li Shuhao.

From UC to Alibaba, the Entrepreneurial Vision is "Billion-Dollar Scale"

The fact that top-tier capital is vying to invest is not solely due to TecDo Tech; Li Shuhao himself is a remarkable individual.

Born in 1989, Li Shuhao studied Electronic Science and Technology at Tianjin University. After graduating in 2011, he worked at Huawei for a year before joining the overseas team of UC Browser, where he began his long-term mission of expanding Chinese internet products overseas.

In 2013, Li Shuhao and his team propelled UC Browser to market leadership in India, at one point surpassing Google.

In 2014, UC was acquired by Alibaba for approximately $4.35 billion, and Li Shuhao was transferred to Alibaba's Mobile Business Group International Business Department, where he was responsible for the overseas promotion of Alipay and AliExpress, becoming one of the earliest operators deeply involved in China's digital overseas expansion.

From UC to Alibaba, Li Shuhao has consistently focused on promoting Chinese internet products overseas. This has been the cornerstone of his capabilities for his later entrepreneurial endeavors.

In 2016, Li Shuhao decided to leave Alibaba and start his own business. The goal he set for himself was ambitious: "It must become a company worth billions of dollars; otherwise, the entrepreneurship would be in vain."

The initial years of entrepreneurship were challenging. Li Shuhao tried seven or eight projects, including website-building tools and tracking tools, but none gained significant traction.

At this juncture, Li Shuhao's former supervisor and Alibaba partner Yu Yongfu offered him a suggestion: Instead of continuing to work on consumer-facing (To C) products, why not leverage his expertise in overseas markets, traffic, and user growth to offer business-to-business (To B) overseas marketing services?

This direction ultimately became the foundation for TecDo Tech. In September 2017, TecDo Tech was established in Guangzhou.

Less than three months after its inception, the company secured its first round of funding totaling $14.4 million from institutions such as K2 Ventures, IDG Capital, and Renren Games. Subsequently, Zhongding Capital, GSR Ventures, and TouTouShiDao Fund joined the investor roster.

Yu Yongfu himself also made a significant investment, now holding an 11.27% stake in TecDo Tech, making him the most important individual shareholder after Li Shuhao.

In the following years, TecDo Tech gradually transformed its years of accumulated overseas marketing experience into its own technological capabilities.

Today, TecDo Tech has built a product matrix with its self-developed TecPro AI model as the technological cornerstone and Navos marketing multi-agents as the core. The TecPro model adopts a native Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture, accumulating practical data from over 100,000 global advertisers, managing a cumulative total of over 400 million advertising strategies and 14 million Standard Product Unit (SPU) data.

In January 2026, the TecPro Q&A reasoning model ranked first globally in the SuperCLUE advertising and marketing professional AI model evaluation.

This technological system has also translated into tangible financial results. According to the prospectus, from 2023 to 2024, the company's revenue increased from $72.82 million to $102 million; in the first three quarters of 2025, revenue reached $130 million, a year-on-year increase of 74.5%; net profit during the same period was $55.68 million, with a gross margin maintained above 82% for three consecutive years, and cash on hand exceeding $440 million.

On February 27 this year, TecDo Tech officially submitted its application for listing on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with CICC and J.P. Morgan serving as joint sponsors, aiming to become the "leading listed agent for overseas marketing."

Li Shuhao's vision of "billion-dollar scale" is now steadily approaching the point of validation.

Behind the Trillion-Dollar Track, Risks Loom Large

Over the past decade, TecDo Tech has capitalized on the growth dividends of Chinese companies expanding overseas. Next, it will face a marketing landscape being reshaped by AI agents.

According to McKinsey, by 2030, AI agents will participate in $3 trillion to $5 trillion worth of global business-to-consumer (B2C) commodity transactions; Gartner predicts that by 2028, 60% of brands will rely on agent AI for one-on-one user interactions.

This means that in the future, AI agents may not only be involved in advertising but also the entire chain from information search and product recommendations to consumption decisions and payment transactions.

TecDo Tech has already begun to explore this new frontier. In July this year, TecDo Tech became one of the first official technology partners of ChatGPT Ads globally. During the initial client testing phase, an overseas brand that used ChatGPT Ads through TecDo Tech saw its return on investment (ROI) increase to 2.5 times the original.

From traditional advertising to AI agent-participated marketing, TecDo Tech is undergoing a transformation that is also impacting the entire overseas marketing industry.

However, a large market does not necessarily equate to easier competition.

According to a Frost & Sullivan report, the global AI software solutions market is expected to grow from $61.7 billion in 2024 to $241.3 billion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 31.4%. More and more players are entering this competitive arena.

Based on 2024 revenue, TecDo Tech ranks as the second-largest overseas AI marketing service provider in China with an 8.5% market share, still significantly behind the leader with an 18.4% share, while the third to fifth-ranked companies are also closing in.

At the same time, companies like BlueFocus and Yeahmobi are also accelerating their entry into the capital markets. Direct competitor Mobvista achieved revenue of $2.047 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 35.7%.

In addition to competition from peers, TecDo Tech also faces internal challenges.

According to the prospectus, as of the end of September 2025, the company's accounts receivable had reached $557 million, accounting for approximately 53% of total current assets.

At the same time, TecDo Tech is highly dependent on top media platforms, with the top three platforms accounting for 88.7% to 90.8% of its marketing costs. Any algorithm adjustments or fee increases by platforms like Meta and Google could directly impact the company's profitability.

Furthermore, as countries around the world tighten regulations on cross-border data flows, the compliance pressure TecDo Tech faces in handling massive amounts of user data is also mounting.

Standing on the threshold of an initial public offering (IPO), TecDo Tech is not facing a blue ocean without competitors. On one side are the new opportunities brought by AI agents; on the other are intensifying industry competition, as well as financial and compliance pressures.

As for whether this decade-long journey from UC's overseas expansion to agent-based commerce can fulfill Li Shuhao's bold claim of "billion-dollar scale," only time will tell.

References:

"TecDo Tech Announces Completion of New Round of Financing," TecDo Tech Official;

"Global Elite Invests in a Former Alibaba Employee," Investment Circle;

"At 36, With $3 Billion in the Bank, He's the Chinese Who Understands Overseas Traffic Best," China Entrepreneur Magazine;

"With an 80% Gross Margin and $440 Million in Cash, This 36-Year-Old 'Alibaba Veteran' Is Listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange After 10 Years of Entrepreneurship! He Once Said, 'I Want to Build a Company Worth Hundreds of Billions, or the Entrepreneurship Would Be in Vain,'" National Business Daily;

"The Company That Handles Advertising for Tencent and NetEase Is Preparing to Go Public, With an 82.2% Gross Margin!" Game New Knowledge;

"Annual Net Profit Exceeds $300 Million! This Guangzhou-Based Agent Company Is Listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and Yu Yongfu Is a Shareholder," Zhidx.

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