(Yicai) April 30 -- French industrial software giant Dassault Systèmes has established its first venture capital fund in China to invest in artificial intelligence and emerging sectors, according to its chief executive officer, who is visiting the country to deepen ties with Chinese innovative firms.

The fund's first phase raised CNY750 million (USD109.7 million) and is about to debut its first investment project, with a second funding round of the same size expected to follow next month, Pascal Daloz said in an interview with Yicai in Beijing. Investment will primarily focus on cutting-edge fields, including physical AI, embodied intelligence, low-altitude economy, and smart manufacturing, he added.

Daloz said he visited six Chinese cities in three days, meeting with various domestic innovative companies such as Xpeng. In addition, the head of Dassault Systèmes' investment team recently met with hundreds of local startups, which are all potential candidates to join the Paris-based firm's innovation ecosystem, he pointed out.

Dassault Systèmes hopes to provide these companies with a foundation for industrial-grade world models, while it also aims to help them expand overseas, he noted.

Last July, Dassault Systèmes launched its first Chinese 3DEXPERIENCE open innovation laboratory in Shanghai to enhance its support for local startups. The lab, its fifth worldwide, is open to advanced manufacturing, life sciences, new materials, and green energy companies.

China holds a leading position in the large-scale application of AI, Daloz said, pointing out the latest version of the model released by DeepSeek, while expressing strong anticipation for allying with Chinese AI model developers.

"I already tested worldwide more than 80 foundational models, and in China, probably 20," Daloz said. "DeepSeek is one of them. There are good things we can do with DeepSeek, but we are also seeing some limitations, because they are very, very language-oriented and not enough physics-oriented.

"Nevertheless, we have identified other players in China having this DNA, and we look forward to working with them," Daloz stressed.

Editor: Martin Kadiev