China's software service providers bet on AI amid funding chill

The Chinese software service industry is heading into a capital winter as the buzz of the late 2010s and flood of investment have yet to generate any headline-grabbing success stories. But as downtrodden investors pull back from much of the sector, one niche is still attracting capital: software as a service (SaaS) combined with artificial intelligence (AI).

Embedding software tools with AI technology is allowing some companies to offer better-standardized products and cut back on development costs, potentially serving as a last resort for startups trying to secure backing from the sector's core venture capital (VC) funds.