Cambricon Technologies, a China-based artificial intelligence processor developer backed by corporates Alibaba, Lenovo, Zhongke Tuling Century Beijing Technology and iFlytek, has filed to float on Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market.
Founded in 2016, Cambricon designs, develops and produces processor chips for use in smart cloud servers, computer terminals and robotics systems. It was spun out of Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology.
The company initially raised an eight-figure renminbi amount (RMB10m = $1.5m) in a 2016 pre-series A round that included AI technology provider iFlytek, which disclosed this week it owns a 1.2% stake according to DealStreetAsia, as well as Oriza Seed Venture Capital and Yonghua Capital.
The latter two returned for a $100m series A round in 2017 that included Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, an investment vehicle for electronics producer Lenovo, as well as robotics technology producer Tuling Century and an undisclosed subsidiary of e-commerce firm Alibaba.
The state-backed SDIC Chuangye Investment Management led the round, which included CAS Investment, an investment arm of Chinese Academy Of Sciences. It reportedly valued the company at more than $1bn.
SDIC Venture Capital, Capital Venture Investment Fund and Guoxin Qidi Fund co-led Cambricon’s $100m series B round in mid-2018 at a $2.5bn valuation.
Alibaba unit Alibaba Innovation Ventures also participated in the round along with CICC Capital, Citic Securities Goldstone Investment Fund and TCL Capital, a VC subsidiary of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
