Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market accepted the initial public offering application submitted by CloudWalk Technology, a China-based facial recognition system developer backed by corporates Bohai, Haier and PCI-Suntek, on Tuesday.
The company plans to raise RMB3.75bn ($574m) and filed the application in December 2020. It intends to issue up to 112 million shares, and China Securities (CSC Financial) has been appointed lead underwriter for the offering.
Incubated by Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015, CloudWalk has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) and big data-equipped control system for use in facial image analysis. It also provides AI technology for use in financial services, urban governance, transportation monitoring and retail management.
CloudWalk president Zhou Xi is its largest shareholder, holding a 23.3% stake through a vehicle dubbed Changzhou CloudWalk, while Nansha Financial Holding, Reform Holdings, Shanghai Atlas Capital and Guangdong Venture Capital also own a notable amount of shares.
The company logged about $117m in revenue in 2020, compared to $125m the year before. The IPO proceeds will go to improving its AI and machine learning tools.
CloudWalk secured $254m in a May 2020 round featuring Haier Financial Holdings, an investment arm of household appliance provider Haier, as well as financial services firms Nansha Financial Holding and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Guosheng Group and China Internet Investment Fund.
Leasing services firm Bohai subsidiary Bohai Capital had taken part in the company’s $141m series B-plus round in 2018, investing together with Yuexiu Financial Holdings, China Reform Fund, Oriza Holdings, Atlas Capital Group, SFund International Holdings, Technology Financial Group and Liu Yiqian.
Shunwei Capital, Oriza Holdings, Puhua Capital, Yuexiu Financial Holdings, Shenzhen Qianhai Xingwang Investment and a joint vehicle for Galaxy Holding and industrial park owner Zhangjiang Group had all contributed to $75m in series B funding in 2017.
Guangzhou’s municipal government supplied $301m for CloudWalk alongside the series B round, which followed $7.3m in funding from cognitive computing technology provider PCI-Suntek Technology in 2015 and a series A round of undisclosed size the year after.
