Chinese AI start-up Megvii has secured $750m in a funding round led by Bank of China Group Investment, bringing its valuation north of $4bn ahead of its planned Hong Kong IPO. The Alibaba-backed company, which is best known for its facial recognition brand Face++, will use the latest capital to fund extra research into deep learning, as well as expand its workforce and push its AI-enabled solutions to the market. In an interview with Reuters, CEO David Li said that his company was “very bullish” on AI, but added that it would take time before companies could start using it.
Chinese AI start-up Megvii has secured $750m in a funding round led by Bank of China Group Investment, bringing its valuation north of $4bn ahead of its planned Hong Kong IPO. The Alibaba-backed company, which is best known for its facial recognition brand Face++, will use the latest capital to fund extra research into deep learning, as well as expand its workforce and push its AI-enabled solutions to the market. Megvii has reportedly engaged Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to help with its IPO, which is expected later this year.