image credit : Megvii

Chinese AI startup Megvii, the developers behind the Face++ AI recognition system which tracks and analyzes faces for use in several industries has now been reported to be in the process of raising a funding round of at least $600 million with Alibaba set to be among the investors in this round.

According to the report from Bloomberg, Megvii which last raised $460 million in a Series C round November last year co-led by Alibaba finance affiliate Ant Financial and electronics manufacturer Foxconn is set to close this funding round within weeks and also kick off an additional funding round citing people familiar with the matter.

Megvii which has raised just over $600 million till date plans to use this investment to boost its retail initiatives with Megvii bringing its AI technology for use in several unmanned stores.

Megvii’s Face++ software notably makes use of a database operated by China’s Ministry of Public Security containing legal identification files on about 1.3 Billion citizens and has been building its technology around this to offer several uses of its Face++ identification platform.

Megvii has attracted interest from government authorities looking to make use of its software to detect crime and various threats with police departments mainly at the local level in the country being major clients of its software.

Megvii stands as a major AI company in the Chinese region along with SenseTime which has already raised $1.6 Billion for its AI technology and has been also reported to be in talks with Softbank to take on an additional $1 Billion in funding.

Another investor reported to be participating in this round is Chinese private equity firm Boyu Capital which is also notable for various major investments in Trax, iQiyi, LY.com, Brii Biosciences and others with many of the rounds being well over $100 million in total.

Share this...

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Linkedin

Whatsapp

Email

Print