Chinese voice recognition player AISpeech raises $58m

BAIC Capital, an arm of Chinese state-owned automaker BAIC Group, and CITIC Securities’ private equity unit Goldstone Investment also participated. 

AISpeech closed a RMB500 million Series D in 2018 co-led by Suzhou Oriza Holdings and China Minsheng Investment Group with support from Shenzhen Capital Group, Foxconn Technology Group, and MediaTek. That followed a Series C in 2016 from Vision Plus Capital and a Series B in 2014 from DCM China. Series A investors include Legend Star and TusPark Ventures.

Suzhou-based AISpeech was founded in 2007 and offers products such as a human-machine interaction system and an artificial intelligence (AI) voice recognition chip, as well as integrated software and hardware solutions for enterprises. Its algorithms are built into goods produced by Alibaba Group, Xiaomi and Lenovo, including car operating systems and smart home platforms.

Additional customers include Intel, Huawei, home appliance manufacturer Midea Group, Apple supplier Foxconn, property developer Country Garden, and electric vehicle brand Xpeng Motors, as well as state-owned automotive firms SAIC Motor and BAIC Group. The company claims its revenue has grown at almost 300% a year for the past three years.

China’s AI-enabled voice recognition market is projected to reach RMB14.6 billion by 2022 and continue growing at 32% a year to 2023, according to iResearch Consulting. Other players in this space include iFlytek, a partially state-owned company, Unisound, which received RMB600 million in Series C funding in 2018, and Mobvoi, which is backed by Google and Volkswagen. 

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• artificial intelligence
• Goldstone Investment