[ad_1]
With a move that could bring up to $ 1 billion in funding, the facial recognition company Megvii is reportedly brooding an initial public offering (IPO). Sources, however, have stated that the idea is still in its infancy and the plan is not carved in stone, according to Deal Street Asia.
A spokesman for the company, Xie Yinan, said at the outlet: "we are considering many options to raise funds, but we are not committed to a definitive plan". According to the report, however, the company is considering raising $ 500 million to $ 1 billion through the IPO, which could happen in Hong Kong.
In addition to Megvii, also the start of artificial intelligence (AI) SenseTime Group Ltd. is trying to raise funds. That company, which provides facial recognition technology to customers in areas such as retail and government, is apparently in talks to raise about $ 2 billion.
The news comes when, according to reports, Megvii would have raised at least $ 600 million from investors like Boyu Capital and Alibaba last year. The company, which is based in China, has one of the largest state-supported venture capital funds as well as Ant Financial by Jack Ma.
Megvii offers facial scanning systems to companies such as Ant Financial and Lenovo Group Ltd. To provide this technology, the company uses facial scans contained in a database of the Ministry of Public Security taken from legal identification files on approximately 1.3 billion of people in China.
In 2017, the company received $ 460 million in venture capital funds, led by a Chinese state-owned venture capital fund and the Russia-China Investment Fund. This last group is supported by the sovereign funds of China and Russia. Professor Leng Biao of the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Beijing stated that "investment from the" national team " [state-owned funds] means that Face ++ will receive much more political support from the government, which will greatly benefit. "However, he noted that" there are also risks, because the funding of the national team has restrictions on who can invest them in [the] future."
[ad_2]Source link
