SenseTime, the China-based artificial intelligence software provider that counts corporates Qualcomm, Alibaba, Suning and Dalian Wanda as investors, is mulling raising $1bn, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The round would value the company at a minimum of $9.5bn post-money, according to people familiar with the matter. The news follows reports in March this year that it was weighing up a round sized at $500m to $1bn.
SenseTime provides a range of AI technologies including image and facial recognition software that is used in public surveillance in China, as well as augmented reality and driver assistance systems and smart education and healthcare products.
The company’s newest products include software designed to detect individuals within a crowd who have raised internal temperatures, technology that could be used to detect people suffering from coronavirus.
Any forthcoming funding would represent the last venture capital raised by SenseTime prior to it going public. It has revealed $1.6bn in funding to date.
SenseTime CEO Xu Li, said in September 2019 its internal valuation had reached $7.5bn, a substantial increase from the $4.5bn valuation at which its last publicly disclosed round – a $620m series C-plus round in mid-2018 – took place.
Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm’s corporate venturing unit, Qualcomm Ventures, took part in the 2018 round alongside financial services and investment group Fidelity International, Silver Lake, Tiger Global Management and Hopu Capital.
E-commerce firm Alibaba had led the company’s $600m series C round shortly before, investing with retail group Suning and Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek.
Alibaba had invested $227m in SenseTime in late 2017 at a $3bn valuation, though it is unclear whether that deal made up its part of the series C round. The valuation was double that at which it had closed a $410m series B round featuring real estate conglomerate Dalian Wanda earlier in the year.
IDG Capital, StarVC, Sailing Capital, China International Capital, Co-Stone Capital, China Merchants Securities International, Morningside Venture Capital, Everbright-IDG Industrial Fund, Advantech Capital, Zhongping Guoyu Asset Management, Huarong International Financial Holdings, TCL Capital and Infore Group also supplied series B funding.
