Deal focus: Efficiency by numbers

China's police force has almost unlimited access to surveillance camera networks and databases that capture vast amounts of data from all over the country. However, information does not necessarily equate to greater efficiency. These data are usually stored in non-standardized and unformatted files held by local police bureaus, making it impossible for officers to put them to systematic use across different platforms and devices. 

MiningLamp is one of several companies offering a solution to this problem. It supplies bespoke big data services to Chinese enterprise clients, helping them take information from old databases, digitize it, and integrate it with artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The product line-up includes LiteMind, a human-robot interaction system, and Nest, a data storage and search platform. 

Financial and industrial enterprises and government agencies make up the major client groups. MiningLamp works with a significant number of police stations and most of its revenue comes from the security industry. The company has seen compound annual growth of 100% every year since its establishment in 2014 and security operations are expected to become profitable in 2019. 

Several investors are backing MiningLamp to leverage its knowledge and network in this area. Huaxing Growth Capital, the private equity arm of China Renaissance, recently teamed up with Tencent Holdings, Jintuo Capital and Avic Trust to provide RMB2 billion ($298 million) in Series D funding. The company has now raised more than RMB3.2 billion across four rounds in four years and is valued at several billion renminbi.

“One of MiningLamp’s competitive edges is that it entered the security space very early on and developed deep relationships with more than 100 large police departments. By collaborating with this group of loyal clients, the company can scale up and improve its products, guided by their feedback,” says Yanshu Zou, a principal at Huaxing.

Police use tools developed by MiningLamp to analyze and consolidate information on suspects with a view to identifying patterns in daily behavior and tracking interaction with associates. It claims to have helped improve crime detection rates from 5% to 20%. MiningLamp is keen to establish itself in other verticals, with manufacturing, retail, transportation, and food and beverage the current priorities. A restaurant industry client, for example, could use the company’s data analysis tools to study camera footage of wait staff and come up with ways to improve operational efficiency. 

The value of such niche offerings reminds Zou that a company doesn’t necessarily have to be big to be effective. 

“To be successful in China’s big data service domain, one does not have to shake up an entire industry,” she notes. “MiningLamp has overtaken its rivals by focusing on providing better services.”

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• Tencent
• China Renaissance
• artificial intelligence