China AI chip designer Vastai raises $77m
Vastai Technologies, a China-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer, has raised RMB500 million ($77 million) in an extended Series A round led by Matrix Partners China and China Internet Investment Fund.
Redpoint China Ventures, 5Y Capital, SAIF Partners China, Glory Ventures, Sirius Capital, and Yuan Capital also participated in the round.
Last December, Vastai secured $50 million in Series A funding from video-sharing platform Kuaishou, Redpoint, and 5Y. An existing investor told AVCJ that Kuaishou led the previous round as a strategic investor.
The company provides high-performance vision processing semiconductors that deliver rich visual detail and real-time intelligence. For example, its chips can identify the anchor during a live broadcast and capture them in the highest definition, while making the background relatively blurred. This maximizes the viewing experience without excessive internet traffic consumption.
Founded in 2018, Shanghai-based Vastai has R&D branches in Beijing and Toronto.
"There is strong demand for video quality and improved user experience which needs video processing technology with higher real-time performance and stronger computing power. Vastai has the rare ability to combine high-performance AI with video chip development,” said Huadong Wang, a partner at Matrix, in a statement.
Wang noted that the amount of time Chinese internet users spend consuming video already exceeds that spent on social media. Video traffic is expected to increase 85-90% in the 5G era.
Chip design is arguably the most popular area among PE and VC investors targeting China's semiconductor industry, largely because it has the highest technology content and is the least capital intensive. AI chips - often referred to as GPU chip design - are said to have the largest market ceiling, given the exponential growth of AI-related applications.
AI chip designers that have received private funding in recent months include Iluvatar CoreX, Moore Threads, Biren Technology, Enflame Technology, and Horizon Robotics. Meanwhile, last July, VC-backed Cambricon Technology became the first Chinese AI chip manufacturer to list on Shanghai's Star Market.
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