SenseTime, the China-based image recognition software provider backed by corporates Alibaba, Qualcomm, Suning and Dalian Wanda, is preparing to raise about $2bn in funding, Bloomberg has reported.
The company is currently speaking to advisers about the prospective funding, according to people with knowledge of the matter, but they did not reveal the likelihood that internet and telecommunications group SoftBank, who was mooted as a possible investor in July 2018, will be involved.
SenseTime provides artificial intelligence software that analyses faces, bodies and objects on a large scale in real time. It is utilised by law enforcement as well as industries such as retail, and could also form the basis for autonomous driving systems.
Although it has not provided details of its earlier funding, the company received $410m in a series B round that closed in mid-2017 featuring property developer Dalian Wanda and existing investor IDG Capital as well as its Everbright-IDG Industrial Fund that valued it at $1.5bn.
Advantech Capital, CDH Investments, StarVC, Sailing Capital International, Morningside Venture Capital, China International Capital, Co-Stone Capital, China Merchants Securities International, Zhongping Guoyu Asset Management, Huarong International Financial Holdings, TCL Capital and Infore Group also took part in the series B.
Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm invested an undisclosed sum later in the year through its China Venture Fund before SenseTime added $600m in an April 2018 series C round led by e-commerce group Alibaba and backed by retailer Suning and Singaporean government-owned firm Temasek.
The series C, which valued SenseTime at $4.5bn, was followed by $620m from Qualcomm subsidiary Qualcomm Ventures, as well as Fidelity International, Tiger Global Management, Hopu Capital and Silver Lake the following month at the same valuation.
