image credit : SenseTime

Behemoth technology investor Softbank is now said to be in talks to invest a large $1 Billion into Chinese AI unicorn SenseTime notable for having raised $1.22 Billion in funding this year alone having raised a total of $1.6 Billion while being the highest valued AI unicorn with a $4.5 Billion valuation.

The report which first came from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter states of the planned investment earmarked to come from Softbank’s $100 Billion Vision Fund with the deal currently in finalizing stage.

SenseTime raised $600 million April this year in a round led by e-commerce company Alibaba and just a month later nabbed another $620 million in an investment round co-led by financial powerhouse Fidelity and other investors with this deal making it the third major round for the company this year if it goes through as planned.

In addition to Alibaba and Fidelity International, SenseTime also counts a roster of other renowned investors which include Qualcomm, Silver Lake, Temasek Holdings, Morningside Group and major technology backing hedge fund Tiger Global.

With AI being a major technology space, SenseTime has already started deploying its huge capital to boost up its ecosystem with the 4 year old startup just last month leading a $75 million round into healthcare cloud and IoT provider Helian Health which valued the company at $900 million.

This deal will mark another of Softbank’s huge bets in the technology space joining a long list of acquisitions and investments which the Japanese based giant have made which consist of a $31 Billion acquisition of chip manufacturer and software design company ARM Holdings 2 years ago along with a $500 million bet on simulation software and gaming startup Improbable, a $100 million bet on mobile robotics startup Brain Corp and a $4 Billion stake purchase in chip manufacturer Nvidia among others.

Another major Softbank deal is its very recent leading of a $121 million investment round into smart camera maker Light.