World Labs has launched Atlas AI, a model that can generate high-quality 3D scenes from a single input image. As reported by Chinese tech media Quantum Bit, the technology is hailed as a milestone in scene-level generation, marking the entry of 3D content creation into a phase directly applicable to production pipelines. The model's ability to create detailed 3D environments from one image simplifies the workflow, reducing the need for multiple inputs. This advancement is expected to benefit fields such as game development, film production, architecture, and virtual reality by making 3D content generation more efficient and accessible. The Atlas AI model represents a significant step forward in generative AI for 3D, demonstrating the potential of single-image reconstruction.

AI 3D company VAST has closed its Series B and Series B+ rounds, raising about 300 million yuan in total, with Jingwei Venture Capital leading the deal. Strategic investors including Perfect World, BlueFocus, ThunderSoft and 37 Interactive Entertainment also joined, while existing backers such as Dachen Capital, Primavera Capital and 4399 added more capital. VAST did not disclose a valuation in this round. The company has moved quickly through successive financings this year. It completed a $50 million Series A in March, followed by Series A+ and A++ rounds in June that raised nearly $200 million, and a Series A3 round in July that brought in more than 1 billion yuan. Based on the publicly disclosed amounts, VAST’s total financing has now approached 6 billion yuan. The broader AI 3D market has also drawn attention, with direct rival Meshy raising nearly $400 million in a July Series B at a $1.5 billion valuation.

NestWorks, a desktop CNC brand incubated within Elephant Robotics, has completed an angel and angel-plus financing round worth several hundred million yuan, according to the source article. Backers include Sequoia China, Lanchi Ventures, CDH Capital, Vertex Ventures and Unity Ventures, while Gaohu Capital acted as the exclusive financial adviser for subsequent fundraising. The company was formally established in November 2025, and its first product, the C500, raised more than $13 million on Kickstarter. The report says NestWorks built the product around its own in-house prototyping needs. The company wanted a machine that could sit in an office, cut aluminum alloy, stainless steel, brass and engineering plastics, and still be simple enough for engineers without formal CNC training to use. The C500 initially ships with an 800W spindle, up to 18,000 RPM, MQL lubrication, automatic tool changing and an intelligent tool management system. NestWorks argues the bigger opportunity is not only hardware, but also software and manufacturing knowledge. Its system connects model import, CAM generation, toolpath planning, simulation and machine execution in one workflow, with software and AI algorithms handling decisions that traditionally depended on operator experience. The company says desktop CNC will likely spread first through engineers, designers, research institutions and small-batch businesses before moving outward into broader user groups.

According to BlockBeats, SpaceXAI will remove the Companions feature from the Grok app after September 1. Ani and other 3D AI companions are not being discontinued; instead, they are moving to a standalone application called Animates. Grok has already started showing users pop-up notifications about the change, and Animates confirmed that SpaceXAI is assisting with the migration. Ani is already live on Animates, with other characters scheduled to join in the coming period. Animation Inc, the company behind Animates, previously took part in producing the 3D characters and animations for Grok Companions. There is no public equity relationship between the two companies. The adjustment effectively spins off Grok’s 3D companion business and hands it to the original partner team to continue operating. It remains unclear whether chat history and long-term memory inside Grok can be migrated along with the characters. So far, officials have only confirmed the character transfer, and no user data migration plan has been disclosed.

VAST, a Chinese AI 3D modeling startup backed by Alibaba and Baidu, is weighing a Hong Kong initial public offering, according to Bloomberg. The company has discussed a potential share sale with Bank of America Corp and China International Capital Corp. The move comes shortly after VAST announced a new funding round of nearly $200 million in June, a deal that reportedly lifted its valuation to about $1 billion and pushed it into the ranks of China’s newest AI unicorns. Bloomberg said the round was led by Ince Capital, with Primavera Capital and existing investor Jingya Capital also participating. Founded in Beijing in 2023 by Song Yachen, a former member of the founding team at large language model developer MiniMax, VAST is known for its AI 3D generation platform Tripo Studio. The product lets users create textured and detailed 3D models from text prompts or uploaded photos, with export options for major game engines and design software. The company says it has about 20 million users worldwide, with the United States as its largest market, followed by Europe, Japan, and South Korea. VAST has also worked with NetEase on the role-playing game Where Winds Meet and has project collaborations with Sony and other companies.

NVIDIA Spatial Intelligence Lab releases Lyra 2.0, an open-source framework that creates explorable 3D worlds from a single image. It tackles spatial forgetting and temporal drift via geometric index memory and self-augmented training, outputting 3D Gaussian Splatting or meshes for Isaac Sim robot training.