Chinese alternative investment firm CDH Investments has led a US$120 million funding round in Chinese deep learning start-up SenseTime, with participation from Dalian Wanda Group, IDG Capital, StarVC and others.
IDG Capital Ends 2016 With 17 Exits And 26 Unicorns In Its Portfolio
IDG Capital achieved 17 exits in 2016, including three initial public offerings and 14 strategic sales. Twenty-six portfolio companies achieved US$1 billion in valuation to qualify as tech unicorns, positioning it among the few funds with the most unicorns in China, it said yesterday via a Wechat post.
Here Are China’s Top 10 AI Companies Challenging US Tech Leadership
Think of China as the world’s factory no more. The Middle Kingdom has been rising in technological sophistication at light speed in recent years, fueled by top-down policy encouragement and venture capital funding. Ten years from now the world’s second biggest economy – though China should already be the world’s biggest economy long before that – could well be the leading power in the next exciting tech frontier: artificial intelligence (AI), projects Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, founder of Sinovation Ventures and …
Shunwei’s Meng Xing Says Chinese AI Startups Need Niche Products To Survive And Thrive
To say that Meng Xing, V.P. and entrepreneur-in-residence at Chinese venture firm Shunwei Capital, has been busy would be a gross understatement. Over the past ten years, the 31-year-old venture capitalist and entrepreneur has founded two artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups, selling one, an image recognition AI company, to Amazon and the other to a listed Chinese company. In between, he worked as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan Hong Kong and casino giant Caesars Entertainment, on top of getting an …
Sailing Capital Leads $60M Round In Chinese AI Firm SenseTime
Sailing Capital International (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a RMB-denominated investment and loan fund created under the support of the Shanghai Municipal Government, has led a US$60 million series funding round in SenseTime, a Beijing-based artificial intelligence start-up.
Tencent Youtu Lab Adds Computer Vision Scientist Jia Jiaya To Its Team
Tencent Youtu Lab, a machine learning-focused artificial intelligence lab operated by Tencent Holdings Ltd., has added Jia Jiaya (pictured), a professor and computer vision scientist at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, to join its team.
Chinese AI Start-Up SenseTime Raises $410 Million Series B Round
Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime has completed a US$410 million series B round, in what the company calls the largest private financing rounds ever closed by an AI start-up globally.
NIO Capital Leads $46M Round In Autonomous Driving Technology Firm Momenta
NIO Capital, a private equity fund established by Chinese electric car company NIO, has teamed up with Sequoia Capital China and Hillhouse Capital to lead a US$46 million series B round in Momenta, a Beijing-based autonomous driving tech start-up.
China’s Venture, PE Sector Slows In July As Investors Remain Cautious
Venture capital deals in China saw a sharp slowdown in July as investors remain cautious in deploying capital to start-ups and companies. A total of 173 venture capital deals were recorded last month, down 21% from June, and 53% from July 2016. A total of US$2.6 billion was raised in July, a decline of 14% month-on-month, and 24% from a year earlier, according to data released by ChinaVenture.
Famed Chinese Angel Investor Bob Xu Says Hong Kong Has Failed To Innovate
Hong Kong has failed in terms of innovation and technology development when compared with other countries in the region, including mainland China, Singapore and South Korea, famed Chinese angel investor Bob Xu said in a forum held in the special administrative region yesterday.
China May Own More Artificial Intelligence Patents Than US By Year-End
China and the United States are both artificial intelligence superpowers. But China may soon be the clear leader, at least in terms of AI patents filed. The U.S. currently has more, with 35,508 AI patents, versus 34,345 for China. But as Chinese companies and scientists are filing AI patents at a faster pace, the nation is likely to hold more AI patents than the U.S. by year end, according to a report by Sequoia Capital China and Zhen Fund.
Cathay Capital Fund Leads Series B2 Round In Chinese Autonomous Driving Tech Firm Momenta
A fund managed by Cathay Capital Private Equity has led a series B2 round in Chinese autonomous driving tech start-up Momenta, with participation from GGV Capital.
Foxconn, IDG Capital To Jointly Raise $1.5 Billion China Automobile Technology Fund
Foxconn Technology Group and venture firm IDG Capital are reportedly raising a RMB10 billion (US$1.5 billion) fund to jointly invest in automotive technologies ranging from autonomous driving to car battery development.
Chinese Facial Recognition Firm Face++ Raises $460M In Series C Round
Chinese facial recognition firm Face++ has raised US$460 million in a series C round led by China State-Owned Assets Venture Investment Fund, with Ant Financial and Foxconn Technology Group participating, setting a new VC financing record for AI companies globally.
Qualcomm To Invest In China’s Face Recognition Start-up SenseTime
U.S. semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc. has made an undisclosed amount of investment in SenseTime, a Beijing-based Chinese artificial intelligence company specialized in face recognition technology and its applications.
DealShot: Yunfeng Leads $27M Round In Chinese Precision Marketing Firm ZMT Zhongmeng
China Money Network’s DealShot provides detailed information on venture capital and private equity deals in China on a daily basis. Here you can find out where Chinese investors have been investing their money in at around 5pm each workday.
Chinese AI Facial Recognition Firm CloudWalk Technology Raises 75M Series B Round
Shunwei Capital, Oriza Holdings and Puhua Capital have led a RMB500 million (US$75 million) series B round in CloudWalk Technology Co., Ltd., an artificial intelligence facial recognition firm whose technology is widely applied in the financial, public security and aviation sectors. Yuexiu Financial Holdings Group, Shenzhen Qianhai Xingwang Investment Co. and a fund co-invested by Galaxy Holding and Zhangjiang Group participated in the new funding round. Cloudwalk also received RMB2 billion (US$301 million) from the government of Guangzhou to set up …
From University To Rising Star, How One Chinese AI Start-Up Aims To Make China "Smart"
Yao Song, founder of upstart Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeePhi Tech, has a nickname: "Boss Yao". The 25-year-old Tsinghua University graduate has been on a winning streak so far. After securing a victory at a national physics competition championship, Yao was admitted into China’s top university to study electrical engineering without having to take the university entrance exam. While at Tsinghua, he chaired a prominent student science association and organized innovation competitions on campus.
Alibaba Reportedly Invests $227M In Chinese Artificial Intelligence Firm SenseTime
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has reportedly invested RMB1.5 billion (US$227 million) in SenseTime, a Beijing-based Chinese artificial intelligence company specializing in facial and image recognition technology and its application.
2017 In Review: China’s 30 Largest Venture Capital Deals
For China venture capitalists, 2017 was a big deal year. While overall VC activity kept the robust pace of a record 2016, the year of 2017 witnessed a large number of record-setting mega deals that defined the growth trajectory of China’s tech sector and made headlines worldwide.
Chinese AI Firm SenseTime Aims To Expand Via Investing In VR Firm 51HiTech
Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime has teamed up with Chinese property developer Modern Land (China) Co. to lead a RMB210 million (US$32 million) series B round in 51HiTech, a Beijing-based virtual reality and augmented reality start-up focused on applications in the real estate sector.
Chinese AI Firm Sensetime Forms Partnership With Honda To Build Smart Cars
Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime has signed a long-term development agreement with Japanese car manufacturer Honda to build smart artificial intelligent cars with autonomous driving.
Singapore’s Temasek Leads $100M Round In Chinese Robotics Firm Rokid
Singapore’s Temasek Holdings has led a new funding round in Rokid, a Chinese robotics start-up. Investors including Credit Suisse Group, CDIB Capital International, and existing investor IDG Capital also participated in the round, Rokid announced on its Wechat official account. The company did not disclose the amount it raised, but Chinese media reports put the number at US$100 million. Rokid did not immediately respond to China Money Network’s inquiry to confirm the figure. The new round values the company at …
China Wins $40B In Venture Capital Deal in 2017 Driven By AI And AutoTech
China recorded US$40 billion in venture capital investment deals in 2017, a 14.3% increase from US$35 billion in 2016, buoyed by a flurry of massive investment in artificial intelligence and automobile technologies in the fourth quarter, according to a report by KPMG.
Tencent Just Launched Its Own AI Images Platform, Will It Kill Facial Recognition Start-Ups?
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd has opened up its artificial intelligence images platform to the public, essentially offering basic image and facial recognition capabilities for free. The move raises the question if start-ups focused on providing facial recognition services would still be commercially viable.
Former Autodesk Director Wang Lifeng Joins 51HiTech As CTO
Wang Lifeng, a visual technology expert who previously worked as a director at Autodesk Software (China) Co., Ltd., and a researcher at Microsoft Corporation, has joined 51HiTech, a Beijing-based virtual reality and augmented reality start-up as chief technology officer, according to the firm’s announcement on its WeChat account.
China’s SenseTime, MIT Launch Artificial Intelligence Alliance
Chinese tech company SenseTime has joined with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ("MIT") in an "alliance" to promote understanding and application of artificial intelligence.
Alibaba Leads $600M Round In Chinese Artificial Intelligence Start-up SenseTime
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has led a US$600 million series C round in SenseTime, a Beijing-based Chinese artificial intelligence company specializing in facial and image recognition technology and its application.
Chinese Start-Up Rokid Aims To Be "Apple+Google" Of The AI Era
When talking about his business, Misa Zhu, founder of Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Rokid, frequently uses two words not often associated with tech: gorgeous and patient.