China-based digital imaging technology developer Black Sesame Intelligent Technology raised approximately $100m on Friday in a series B round led by Legend Capital, the venture capital firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings.
Legend Capital invested through its semiconductor-focused fund, Junhai Chuangxin, and the round included car manufacturer SAIC Motor and SK China, a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate SK Group.
China Merchants Capital, Delta Capital, FengHu Fund Management and Northern Light Venture Capital filled out the participants.
Founded in 2016, Black Sesame is developing artificial intelligence algorithms that are deployed at the chip level to facilitate computer vision, image processing and embedded sensing.
The company is currently focusing its efforts on creating an autonomous driving platform that will be able to detect and pinpoint the position of pedestrians, traffic lights, lanes, cars and other objects. Black Sesame claims its approach is superior to that of competitors that rely solely on graphics processing units.
The series B funding will support the design and development of the controller and software required for self-driving cars.
Black Sesame’s partnerships include agreements with SAIC Motor and fellow carmakers FAW, BYD and Nio, all of which will integrate the company’s autonomous driving technology into models set for release this year.
Furniture retailer Red Star Macalline contributed to a $14.9m series A-plus round for Black Sesame in January 2018 together with Nio’s corporate venturing subsidiary, Nio Capital, and Northern Light Venture Capital.
Northern Light Venture Capital had previously led a series A round for the company in 2016 that was sized in the seven-figure dollar range, according to China Money Network, though further details could not be ascertained.
