Taiwan's Appier gets $80m Series D

Participants included TGVest Capital, Hopu-Arm Innovation Fund, Temasek Holdings-owned Pavilion Capital, Insignia Venture Partners, Jafco Investment and UMC Capital. TGVest is a technology-focused Japan and Taiwan investor that spun out from evergreen vehicle UMC. The Hopu-Arm fund was established by Chinese private equity firm Hopu Investments in conjunction with SoftBank-owned semiconductor specialist Arm Holdings.

The round brings Appier's total funding to $162 million. The company closed its Series C at $33 million in 2017 with contributions from SoftBank, Naver, Line, Hong Kong-based AMTD Group, and Singapore's EDBI. Earlier backers include Sequoia Capital China, UOB Ventures, Mediatek Ventures, Firstfloor Capital, WI Harper Group, and Translink Capital.

Appier was established in 2012 by Chih-Han Yu and Joe Su who conceived the idea of a start-up that would leverage data to help companies make better decisions. Yu was an AI scientist whose projects while studying at Harvard and Stanford included a self-adapting robotics system to help polio patients walk correctly. Su was a systems engineer and Yu's roommate at Harvard. They recruited Winnie Lee as a co-founder to provide non-engineering competencies that were not their forte.

The company has built several platforms that offer data analytics services to corporate clients, enabling them to optimize advertising campaigns for brands and analyze what users will do on different smart device screens at different times of the day. While these competencies could be developed in-house, many companies lack the resources or time to build effective algorithms.

Appier now employs more than 400 professionals across 14 offices. The new funding will go towards global expansion, recruitment, and leveraging AI expertise in industries beyond digital marketing as well as strengthening the current product suite.

"Appier has all the assets required for continued global growth," said Shaun Lim, a managing director at Hopu-Arm Innovation Fund, in a statement. "We're excited to support Appier as it strengthens its existing markets and products and expands into new geographies and industries. Appier's exceptional AI offering will undoubtedly help many more enterprises effectively use the beauty of data intelligence to drive business growth and to customize engagement with their end customers."

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• Media
• Taiwan (China)
• TMT
• Growth capital
• Hopu Investment Management
• Insignia Venture Partners