Chinese AI startup Yi+ raises US$15 million in Series B funding
BEIJING, Sept. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Beijing-based startup Yi+ (www.yijia.ai), which uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to provide intelligent media and marketing solutions, has recently obtained US$15 million in Series B funding.
The round was led by Haitong Securities, with participation from BRJ Group and an investment fund under the Bank of Beijing. This brings Yi+'s total funding to overUS$25 million, including a Series A funding from Alibaba back in 2015. The startup's new capital will be used on research and development, product commercialization and entry into new global markets.
With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), more attention has been given to the field of computer vision due to its wide array of useful applications. By reinventing the artificial eye, cutting-edge sensors and image processors could match and exceed the abilities of a human eye. Researchers, investors and entrepreneurs are turning their focus to new ventures in this field.
According to the latest research report titled "China's Rise in Artificial Intelligence" from Goldman Sachs, China is a strong contender in the field of AI. Indeed, with its vast human and financial resources, as well as an ambitious top-down plan to generate an AI-powered economy in the next decade, many new start-ups and companies have sprung up to capitalize on AI as the next big opportunity.
Against this backdrop, Yi+ has been drawing a high level of media and investors' attention after its founder, Ms Zhang Mo, was chosen as one of the top 10 female tech entrepreneurs in China. The selection was based on an assessment of 145 female entrepreneurs by Alibaba Research Institute, China Entrepreneur Association Mulan Hui and Alibaba Innovation Centre.
Founded in 2014, Yi+ is China's leading computer vision service provider. "Our mission is to harness the commercial value hidden in large amounts of visual information. Yi+'s technology improves products by enhancing user experience- thus allowing more to experience what the human eye cannot see. This will fundamentally change the way we view our world," said Ms Zhang Mo, founder and CEO of Yi+.
At present, two flagship brands have been launched under the startup. They are Yi+ which is an artificial intelligence computer vision engine and Dress+, a search-by-image fashion app.
"With the assistance of technology, more visual data could be gathered, analyzed and processed instantaneously. Yi+ helps to realize the vision of smarter eyes everywhere," Ms Zhang added.
Furthermore, the startup's technical competencies were proven when they came in first for 10 categories at ImageNet 2015 and 2016, surpassing renowned tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Samsung etc.
Already, Yi+ has created a product for Alibaba Digital Entertainment. Known as the large screen AI assistant, Yi+ technology enables large-scale simultaneous 'watching and buying' experiences (Watch Plus). This AI assistant has been acclaimed as a major breakthrough by Yi+ in the OTT industry.
In the next stage of development, Yi+ scenario-based, general object, product and facial detection, recognition, search and recommendation technologies will be employed in the media, entertainment and advertising industries. Intelligent solutions such as "TV+AI", "Camera+AI"and "Marketing+AI" will deeply transform human-computer interaction in image and video applications.
Ultimately, Yi+'s goal is to quickly integrate its intelligent solutions into each of these domains by helping companies to consolidate their traffic data and content, provide end-to-end services and ultimately, scale up their platforms.
In China, Yi+ technologies have already been employed by a dozen of the reputable brands, such as Alibaba and Huawei, servicing more than a total of 400 million users. In the media industry, Yi+ has been helping to achieve intelligent data analysis, content interaction and scenario-marketing.
Its exceptional team members hailed from renowned institutions such as Columbia University, National University of Singapore, Peking University, Microsoft, IBM, Alibaba and Baidu.
Given that China's AI industry will be growing from strength to strength, outsiders should be on a look-out for Chinese AI start-ups, other than the traditional BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) companies. The smaller enterprises may lead to thenext opportunity in AI innovation.
SOURCE Beijing Yi+ Technology Co., Ltd.
CONTACT: Shihua Yan, yanshihua@yijia.ai, +86-13693140969
RELATED LINKShttp://www.yijia.ai
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