Haizhi, a business data platform founded by Ren Xuyang, former Business Development vice president of Baidu, received Series C financing of RMB 196 million (USD 30 million) on Wednesday. This new round of financing, led by Legend Capital, pushed the company’s valuation to RMB 16.4 billion.
IDG and Morningside Venture Capital also contributed to this round of funding. In 2014, Hillhouse Capital, IDG and Morningside Venture Capital injected an undisclosed amount of dollars in Series B financing, and In 2013, Haizhi landed RMB 42.5 million as an angel investment from Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI) and IDG.
The platform will use the funding to further enhance enterprise data analysis capabilities and grow its team, aiming to create an ecosystem based on big data, cloud computing and mobile Internet.
Haizhi was founded in July 2013 by Ren Xuyang, who co-founded leading Chinese video streaming platform iQIYI. Ren also founded Yidian Zixun, the main rival of one of China’s largest news aggregators Jinri Toutiao.
Ren said that he has always been aware of the significance of big data and is an avid watcher of the data analysis sector.
The platform acts as a cloud server to provide cloud data visualization and analysis services. It integrates and analyzes uploaded business data and diagrams, and then outputs visualized data and graphics to make operational data easier for company executives. So far the platform has served several hundred companies in a wide range of fields including the IT, fast food, manufacturing, financial and medical sectors.
Ren said the company wants a slice of the data analysis cake and wants to compete with IBM, SAP and Oracle.
(Top photo from iwms.net)