China-based AI technology producer SenseTime raised $227m from internet and e-commerce group Alibaba last week at a reported $3bn post-money valuation, likely forming part of the $500m series C round the company is reportedly raising.
SenseTime had previously announced a commitment of an undisclosed size by semiconductor technology producer Qualcomm earlier in November.
Founded in 2014, SenseTime is developing deep learning technology that relies on computer vision to facilitate applications such as facial recognition, image processing, language recognition and vehicle recognition.
The company supplies services to some 300 clients including e-commerce group JD.com, telecoms firm China Mobile Communication, smartphone producer Xiaomi and communication equipment manufacturer Huawei Technologies.
In addition to Alibaba and Qualcomm, SenseTime’s earlier investors include real estate conglomerate Dalian Wanda, alternative asset management firm CDH Investments and venture capital group IDG Capital.
The artificial intelligence space has seen significant growth in both number and volume of corporate-backed deals, as the historical bar chart from GCV Analytics below illustrates. The number of such rounds increased exponentially from 24 in 2013 to 157 in 2016.
The amount of estimated total capital invested in such rounds also grew from $1.14bn in 2013 to $3.40bn in 2016. These impressive trends is likely to be sustained not only in 2017 but also in the coming years, as new applications of artificial intelligence technology are found across a wide range of sectors and verticals.
