China chatbot developer raises funding to ride ChatGPT wave

The funding round was completed in 2022, according to a statement. The proceeds will be used to fully integrate ChatGPT’s large language model (LLM) into Emotibot’s product system. This integration will allow the company to create a dual-engine model driving product iteration and technical upgrades.

Emotibot will simultaneously embark on a comprehensive renewal of its products and services. The updated version will also be available in overseas markets.

The company has already launched several products based on the LLM behind ChatGPT, which was developed by Microsoft-supported OpenAI. The GeminiGPT series features Magic Writer, an artificial intelligence-driven writing tool, KKbot, a chatbot used in customer service and sales, and ChatSearch, a search engine containing a natural language interface.

Emotibot claims that its new products have a better understanding of the Chinese language and superior generation capabilities than those of overseas peers. In addition, it offers features and scenarios deeply rooted in Chinese user habits.

To date, the company has served more than 500 large enterprise customers across financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and retail. Huawei Technologies is a client; it uses Emotibot’s bots to support staff running its IT helpdesk and in its smart speaker product line. 

Emotibot was established in 2015 by Renxian Jian, previously dean of Microsoft’s Asian internet engineering institute. The company claims to apply AI to deliver a better understanding of human emotions. Its work on natural language processing led to the creation of what is said to be China’s first AI dialogue platform with universal semantic reasoning.

ChatGPT raised the bar in terms of the ability of AI chatbots to engage in human-like conversation. It is said to have served as a wake-up call for start-ups and early-stage investors across Asia.

In China, several start-ups have plugged into ChatGPT for demo tests as it is not officially available in the country. Laiye Technology, a private equity-backed robotic process automation (RPA) specialist, is one of them. The company is integrating GPT technology into overseas business units focused on conversational AI, intelligent document processing, and RPA.

“We feel a strong sense of urgency,” said Guanchun Wang, Laiye’s CEO and chairman, in a previous interview. “ChatGPT may bring profound change to product design and user experience. The delivery cycle for a customer service chatbot could be shortened from two weeks to a matter of minutes. Some corporates might dispose of manual customer service departments if there is a high level of customer satisfaction with bot services.”

Chatbot developers could be heavily impacted if they don't plug in the new features offered by LLM. Daisy Cai, a China-based partner at B Capital Group, expects to see a new wave of start-ups emerge based on AI technology represented by ChatGPT.

Emotibot has received upwards of USD 130m in private funding. The first tranche of the Series D - provided by KYMCO and Junci, among others - closed on CNY 100m (USD 15m) last July. Two Series C tranches of CNY 200m and CNY 100m closed in 2020 and 2021, AVCJ Research's records show.

Other investors in the company include Advantech Capital, CDIB Venture Capital, V Fund, Lingfeng Capital, Keywise Capital Management, Puhua Capital, BOC International, Bocom International, and Everest Ventures.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• artificial intelligence
• GP Capital
• Growth capital