INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SenseTime, the world highest-valued AI company with a valuation of over $4.5 billion, is back in the money again.
The company raised $600
million in an Alibaba-led financing round announced last month, and now it has added a further $620 million to that with a &Series C+& round
announced today.
Alibaba led the previous deal, and this time around the investors include more traditional names such asFidelity
International, Hopu Capital, Silver Lake and Tiger Global
Qualcomm, which previously backed the firm, was also in this round, SenseTime confirmed.
The new money takes SenseTime to $1.6 billion from
The valuation has remained &over& $4.5 billion across both of these recent rounds, according to the company
It was previously valued at $1.5 billionwhenit raised a $410 million Series Blast year.
Alibaba said at the time of its investment last
month that it had become the largest-single investor in SenseTime
Given this fresh injection, it isn&t clear whether that has changed
A SenseTime spokesperson told TechCrunch that &Alibaba and other lead investors have similar status.&
SenseTime said it has more than 700
customers across a range of verticals including fintech, automotive, fintech, smartphones, smart city development and more that
includeHonda, Nvidia, China UnionPay, Weibo,China Merchants Bank, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.
Perhaps its most visible partner is the
Chinese government, which uses its systems for its national surveillance system.SenseTime process data captured by China 170 million CCTV
cameras and newer systems which includesmart glasses worn by police offers on the street.
Former Google China head targets AI opportunities
with new $900M Sinovation fund
China has placed vast emphasis on tech development, with AI one of its key flagposts.
A government program
aims to make the country the world leader in AI technology by 2030,the New York Times reported, by which time it is estimated that the
industry could be worth some $150 billion per year
SenseTime continued development fees directly into that ambition.
SenseTime has been busy extending its presence lately
It became the first company to join the MIT Intelligence Quest and, alongside Alibaba, it is launching an AI lab in Hong Kong
The firm said, too, it has formulated an AI textbook for secondary students in China which will make its way to 40 schools soon.
