China robotics, AI player Data Ground raises $35m
Data Ground, a Chinese robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technology developer, has raised RMB270 million ($35 million) in an extended Series B round led by Shenzhen Venture Capital.
SAIF Partners, Mount Morning Capital, and Z Capital also participated.
Founded in 2015, Shanghai-headquartered Data Ground specializes in robotic process automation (RPA) systems, which allow machines to simulate the manual abilities of humans, reducing labor costs, improving efficiency, and ensuring projects are completed consistently. The company has developed solutions for a range of clerical work. It plans to fully or partially replace human labor in data comparison, invoice analysis, form filling, and intelligent recommendation.
Customers include China UnionPay, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, China Merchants Securities, Guotai Junan Securities, Xinhua Finance, and China Mobile. Data Ground has also strategic partnerships with Microsoft Corporation, Sogou, and Ping An Insurance.
In 2019, Data Ground launched "intelligent RPA," which integrates RPA, natural language processing (NLP), and optical character recognition (OCR) technologies. The company claims to be fully independent and the only robotics player of its kind that does not use Microsoft 's underlying development framework.
"Developing our own framework is more expensive and more difficult, but it is worthwhile. We've mastered all the core technologies from the bottom up, we've got the cross-platform adaptability. Our solution can run on various operating systems at home and abroad," said Yunwen Chen, CEO of Data Ground.
The investment extends a string of Chinese RPA and related automation deals in recent months, including a $42 million Series C round for Laiye Technology and a $45 million extended Series B for Emotibot. Meanwhile, Encoo Technology has raised a $30 million Series B round led by Sequoia Capital China.
According to a report by Zinnov, a US consulting firm, global companies spent more than $2.3 billion on RPA in 2019, while over one-third of corporations globally are using or experimenting with RPA robots. In the business process outsourcing services market, the RPA market share exceeds 90%.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.