Alibaba leads $600m round for China’s SenseTime

The round values the company at approximately $4.5 billion, according to a source familiar with the situation. Other investors include Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and Chinese consumer electronics retailer Suning.

SenseTime was formed in 2014 by Xiao’ou Tang, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, alongside two PhD students – Li Xu and Bing Xu – and Fan Yang, formerly a software development engineer at Microsoft, with a view to commercializing their scientific research in computer vision and deep learning. Within a year, SenseTime had expanded its four-strong founding team to include 30 scientists and industry experts. 

The company has built a proprietary deep learning platform – known as Parrots – that drives core AI technology. It comprises a strong internal computation capability, with over 8,000 different types of graphics processing units (GPUs), that can be used in fields such as facial and image recognition, autonomous driving, medical imaging and deep learning hardware optimization.

IDG Capital and StarVC were early investors in the company, providing a total of $20 million in a Series A round across two tranches in late 2014 and early 2016. CDH Investments led the first tranche of a Series B round worth $120 million in December 2016, joined by Dalian Wanda Group, IDG, and StarVC. A second tranche of $290 million, led by Sailing Capital, closed six months later.

There were as many as 20 additional participants in the Series B, including China Merchants Securities International, Morningside Venture Capital, China International Capital Corporation, Co-Store Capital, Advantech Capital, China Renaissance and Qualcomm Technologies. It took SenseTime to a valuation of more than $2 billion.

The company currently has more than 400 customers in China and overseas. It supplies its AI chips and software solutions to the likes of telecommunication company China Mobile, smart phone makers Huawei and Xiaomi, and online retailer JD.com. Previously, it helped Suning to roll out its unmanned retail stores by leveraging facial recognition technology.

The Series C capital injection will be used to strengthen SenseTime’s AI platform and develop new technology as well as for overseas expansion, the company said in a statement. 

"SenseTime is doing pioneering work in artificial intelligence. We are especially impressed by their R&D capabilities in deep learning and visual computing. Our business at Alibaba is already seeing tangible benefits from our investments in AI and we are committed to further investment. Our strategic partnership with SenseTime will spark more innovation and create value for society,” said Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group.

Other investment activity in this space include a $55 million Series C round for Yitu Technology, led by Hillhouse Capital, and a $68 million Series A round for Shanghai Think Force Technology. Yunfeng Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Hillhouse are investors in the company. 

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Expansion
• China
• TMT
• Technology
• Alibaba Group
• Temasek Holdings
• Growth capital