Eight Roads leads $22m round for Meitu's AI design unit

FutureX Capital and Meitu also took part in the round, which is intended to support global expansion. Eight Roads and FutureX contributed USD 10m and USD 9m, respectively, while Meitu – which will own 80.62% of Pixocial once the transaction closes – put in USD 3m, according to a filing.

The funding is in large part intended to support the global expansion of Pixocial, which is headquartered in Singapore and makes no obvious reference to Meitu on its international website. The company offers a portfolio image and video processing functions to Chinese and overseas users, leveraging Meitu’s experience with computer vision algorithms.

Key products include AirBrush, an AI photo editor, and BeautyPlus, a digital creative suite. It also owns SnapID, a personal ID photo booth, Vcus, a short video editing app, and PartyNow, a provider of electronic filters. Like Meitu, it generates revenue through advertising and subscription services. Net profit reached CNY 75m (USD 10.3m) in 2022, up from CNY 47m a year earlier.

Xinhong Wu, chairman and CEO of Meitu and now chairman of Pixocial, said in a statement that bringing in international investors “is an important milestone in realizing the group's ‘global expansion’ strategy.” There are plans to promote Pixocial’s international brand image, develop a content collaboration ecosystem, and attract global talent.

Meitu – which listed in Hong Kong in 2016 – had 242.9m monthly active users (MAUs) as of December 2022, with nearly 80m originating from overseas markets. BeautyPlus alone had 32.5m users, inside and outside China. Revenue and net profit amounted to CNY 2.1bn and CNY 18.9m in 2022.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Media
• Early-stage
• China
• TMT
• FutureX Capital
• Eight Roads