Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma image : World Economic Forum / Sandra Blaser

Face++ developer Megvii is weighing a Hong Kong IPO that could raise as much as $1 billion, Bloomberg reports. This comes not too long after one of its investors, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba was reported to be considering joining a $500 million round being prepped by the facial recognition software developer.

Bloomberg says Megvii is considering a public offering to raise between $500 million and $1 billion on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the same which hosted Xiaomi’s debut last year, citing people familiar with the matter. “We are considering many options to raise funds but have not committed to a final plan,” a company spokesperson said in a messaged statement to Bloomberg.

SenseTime managing director of strategic investment Esther Wong Photograph by Shawn Koh/Fortune

Seven year old Megvii and another Alibaba backed company, SenseTime are leading the race in China’s target to dominate the artificial intelligence field by 2030. Both companies provide AI based computer vision services for use cases including security, identification, entertainment, financial services and marketing. SenseTime is also said to be in talks to raise a $2 billion round to add to its billions raised so far.

Megvii has raised about $600 million so far according to Crunchbase from investors including Alibaba, Boyu Capital, Foxconn, Qiming Venture Partners and Russia-China Investment Fund. Its customers include Camera 360, Alibaba’s Alipay, Meitu, Lenovo, Kuaishou and Didi Chuxing rival Ucar.

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