Our weekly column summarizes the tech financing highlights in China this week.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will be an infrastructure for most companies in the future. However, there are several large technology areas in AI including deep learning, big data analysis, and personnel recognition. Thus, it will be better for some startups to focus on one area and invest most of its resources to develop one core technology. There is no need to work on several areas as we are living in a highly collaborative world, so it will be easier to collaborate with others to build good products.
This week, we witnessed the largest single financing in the AI industry worldwide with SenseTime securing USD 410 million to develop face, text, vehicle and image recognition technologies. With the innovation from startups and financing help from venture capital firms, the development of AI technology continues to accelerate.
AI technical service provider SenseTime receives USD 410 million for Series B
SenseTime
Founder: Xu Li
Founded in: 2014
Financing status: RMB 2.8 billion (USD 410 million) Series B round in 2017
AI technical service provider SenseTime on Tuesday received USD 410 million for its Series B financing round to expand its AI technology to the self-driving industry.
Fintech startup Dashu receives USD 118 million for Series C
Dashu
Founder: Liu Bo
Founded in: 2014
Financing status: RMB 800 million (USD 118 million) Series C round in 2017
Fintech startup Dashu on Friday received USD 118 million for its Series C financing round to improve its risk control technology.
Big data service provider mobile app Jiguang receives undisclosed Series D in tens of millions of USD
Jiguang
Founder: Luo Weidong
Founded in: 2011
Financing status: 2017 Series D round amounting to hundreds of millions in RMB (tens of millions of USD)
Big data service provider mobile app Jiguang on Thursday received an undisclosed Series D financing round in tens of millions of USD for market expansion.
Parking space rental startup Airparking receives undisclosed pre-Series A in millions of USD
AirParking
Founded in: 2015
Financing status: 2017 pre-Series A round amounting to tens of millions in RMB (a few million USD)
Parking space rental startup AirParking on Monday received an undisclosed pre-Series A financing round worth millions of USD for its business expansion.
Big data based K12 extracurricular training startup Qinxue receives undisclosed Series A in millions of USD
Qinxue
Founder: Wang Qinjun
Founded in: 2015
Financing status: 2017 Series A round amounting to tens of millions in RMB (a few million USD)
Big data based K12 extracurricular training startup Qinxue on Monday received an undisclosed Series A financing round worth millions of USD to enhance operational efficiency of its education platform through increased investment in big data technology.
Gift e-commerce platform GiftTalk receives undisclosed Series B+ in millions of USD
GiftTalk
Founder: Wen Chenghui
Founded in: 2014
Financing status: 2017 Series B+ round amounting to tens of millions in RMB (a few million USD)
Gift e-commerce platform GiftTalk on Wednesday received an undisclosed Series B+ financing round in millions of USD to open 100 physical stores in 100 days.
Robot sensor developer Slamtec receives USD 22 million for Series C
Slamtec
Founder: Chen Shikai
Founded in: 2009
Financing status: RMB 150 million (USD 22 million) Series C round in 2017
Robot sensor developer Slamtec on Monday received USD 22 million for its Series C financing round to develop automatic positioning algorithms for robots.
Flower delivery platform FlowerPlus receives undisclosed Series B in tens of millions of USD
FlowerPlus
Founded in: 2015
Financing status: 2017 Series B round amounting to hundreds of millions of RMB (tens of millions of USD)
Flower delivery platform FlowerPlus on Wednesday received an undisclosed Series B financing round in tens of millions of USD for market expansion plans.
Smart logistics robot company Geek+ receives USD 60 million for Series B
Geek+
Founder: Zheng Yong
Founded in: 2015
Financing status: RMB 407 million (USD 60 million) Series B round in 2017
Smart logistics robot company Geek+ on Thursday received USD 60 million for its Series B financing round to boost its global expansion.
Bike-sharing startup Mingbikes receives undisclosed Series B in tens of millions of USD
Mingbikes
Founder: Che Yu Ying
Founded in: 2016
Financing status: 2017 Series B round amounting to hundreds of millions of RMB (tens of millions of USD)
Bike-sharing startup Mingbikes on Thursday received an undisclosed Series B financing round in tens of millions of USD for market expansion.
（Top photo from 58pic.com）