China AI specialist Sense Time gets $60m from Sailing

Sense Time was founded in 2014 by a group of Chinese scientists from leading educational institutions such as Stanford University and Tsinghua University, as well as former employees of technology firms including Google and Microsoft. It claims to be the only company in China focusing on the development of deep learning infrastructure and precise rules specifying how to solve specific problems.

The company specializes in facial and specific object scanning, recognition and analysis technology. Its technology can be applied in different industry verticals, such as financial services, cybersecurity and driverless cars. With offices in Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, it claims to work with more than 300 companies, including China Mobile, Huawei, Xiaomi, JD.com, Sina Weibo and Hainan Airlines.

Sense Time received $120 million in Series B funding last December, led by CDH Investments. IDG Capital also participated as a new investor, while Dalian Wanda Group and StarVC both re-upped. According to AVCJ Research, StarVC committed $10 million to the company in April 2016.

“Sense Time has strong scientific research and innovation capabilities, as well business acumen, across deep learning and visual recognition technology. With its depth of talent and technical resources, the company is a clear leader in commercializing this technology,” Xiaodong Liu, president of Sailing, said in a statement.

He drew comparisons between Sense Time and Mobileye, an Israeli developer of vision-based technology for autonomous driving that Sailing first backed in 2013. The company went public in 2015, allowing Sailing to make a partial exit worth $77.5 million, and was then acquired by Intel Corporation last year for $15.3 billion. The GP realized a more than RMB1 billion ($145 million) gain on its investment.

Set up in 2012, Sailing operates the first and largest cross-border, renminbi-denominated private equity fund. The vehicle was launched by Shanghai International Group with a target of RMB50 billion, to be raised from domestic enterprises. It reached a first close of RMB12 billion. The fund aims to aid overseas acquisitions by Chinese companies, participating throughout the capital structure.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• sailing capital
• Growth capital
• Venture