Qianxun Spatial Intelligence, a China-based positioning technology provider co-founded by e-commerce group Alibaba, has raised RMB1bn ($141m) in series A funding, China Money Network reported today.
Government-owned entities Shanghai International Group, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China State-Owned Capital Venture Investment Fund led the round, the former two through SIG Asset Management and ICBC Financial Asset Investment respectively.
Shanghai Guohe Capital also contributed to the round, which valued Qianxun at approximately $1.84bn according to China Money Network.
Qianxun was co-founded by Alibaba and defence equipment producer Norinco Group in 2015 and produces high-grade global positioning software that can locate objects within a centimetre in real time and within a millimetre in terms of post-processing.
The technology is used in the internet-of-things space and combines data from satellite cluster BeiDou Navigation Satellite System with artificial intelligence and analytics technology. Qianxun claims it serves some 390 million users around the world.
The funding has been earmarked for further development of Qianxun’s core technology and the expansion of its infrastructure. It comes after Alibaba and Norinco each put up RMB1bn in funding for the company at the time of its launch.
