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Sinovation Ventures
Sinovation Ventures () is a Beijing-based venture capital firm founded in 2009. The firm focuses on investing in startups that use artificial intelligence technology. It was one of the first Chinese venture capital firms to establish a presence in the United States. Background Kai-Fu Lee was President of Google China from July 2005 to 4 September 2009. A few days after resigning from his post, on 7 September 2009, he announced he would be starting a $115m venture capital fund called "Innovation Works". His colleague, Hua Wang, who was previously Head of Business Development in Google China joined him as a co-founder. In 2013, an office was opened in Silicon Valley to invest in US startups. In 2016, the firm rebranded from "Innovation Works" to "Sinovation Ventures". In 2019, the firm closed its Silicon Valley office citing the China–United States trade war making it difficult to get into US deals. Funds Investments * 01.AI * 4Paradigm * AdMob * Bitmain * Insilico M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Privately Held Company
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equity, company's stock is offered, owned, traded or exchanged privately, also known as "over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter". Related terms are unlisted organisation, unquoted company and private equity. Private companies are often less well-known than their public company, publicly traded counterparts but still have major importance in the world's economy. For example, in 2008, the 441 list of largest private non-governmental companies by revenue, largest private companies in the United States accounted for $1.8 trillion in revenues and employed 6.2 million people, according to ''Forbes''. In general, all companies that are not owned by the government are classified as private enterprises. This definition encompasses both publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megvii
Megvii () is a Chinese technology company that designs image recognition and deep-learning software. Based in Beijing, the company develops artificial intelligence (AI) technology for businesses and for the public sector. Megvii is the largest provider of third-party authentication software in the world, and its product, Face++, is the world's largest computer vision platform. In 2019, the company was valued at $USD 4 billion. As of 2024, the company operates the world's largest computer vision research institute. The company has faced U.S. investment and export restrictions due to allegations of aiding the persecution of Uyghurs in China. History The company was founded in Beijing with Megvii standing for "mega vision." It was started by Yin Qi and two college friends. The company's core product, Face++, launched in 2012 as the first online facial recognition platform in China. In 2015 Megvii created Brain++, a deep-learning engine to help train its algorithms. Backe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Financial Services Companies Established In 2009
Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and discipline of money, currency, assets and liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business Administration wich study the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of an organization's resources to achieve its goals. Based on the scope of financial activities in financial systems, the discipline can be divided into personal, corporate, and public finance. In these financial systems, assets are bought, sold, or traded as financial instruments, such as currencies, loans, bonds, shares, stocks, options, futures, etc. Assets can also be banked, invested, and insured to maximize value and minimize loss. In practice, risks are always present in any financial action and entities. Due to its wide scope, a broad range of subfields exists within finance. Asset-, money-, risk- and investment management aim to maximize value and minimize volatility. Financial analysis assesses the viability, stability, and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Companies Established In 2009
Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of various ethnicities in contemporary China ** Ethnic minorities in China, people of non-Han Chinese ethnicities in modern China ** Ethnic groups in Chinese history, people of various ethnicities in historical China ** Nationals of the People's Republic of China ** Nationals of the Republic of China ** Overseas Chinese, Chinese people residing outside the territories of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan * Sinitic languages, the major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family ** Chinese language, a group of related languages spoken predominantly in China, sharing a written script (Chinese characters in traditional and simplified forms) *** Standard Chine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhihu
Zhihu () is a Quora-type question and answer site and news aggregator. Originally based in Chengdu and with creators from Sichuan, China, the website launched on January 26, 2011. The number of registered users on Zhihu exceeded 10 million by the end of 2013, and reached 17 million as of May 2015, with 250 million monthly page views. History Zhihu began development in August 2010. It went through a closed beta test at the end of December 2010. The final product went online on January 26, 2011. It has reportedly received funding from Kai-Fu Lee's Innovation Works, Qiming Ventures, SAIF Partners, Tencent, and Sogou. In October 2011, Zhihu completed its A-round of funding for US$7 million from Innovation Works and Qiming Ventures. In 2015, Zhihu completed its C-round of funding for US$55 million. In 2017, Zhihu officially commercialized. In August 2018, Zhihu completed its E-round of funding, raising US$270 million for a total company valuation at US$2.5 billion. On August 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wonder Workshop
Wonder Workshop is an education and robotics startup based in Silicon Valley in the United States. Formerly called Play-i, Wonder Workshop ran a crowdfunding campaign in November 2013, where they introduced the robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...s Bo and Yana. They were subsequently renamed Dash and Dot before their launch in 2014. The company has currently raised $15.9 million in funding from Madrona Venture Group, CRV, WI Harper, Google Ventures, and others. Products Wonder Workshop introduced Dash and Dot in December 2014. They are robots targeted at teaching creative problem-solving and computational thinking. They came with four free apps compatible with iOS and Android devices. Dash and Dot shipped to 37 countries including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WeRide
WeRide Inc. () is an autonomous driving technology company. Its products hold driverless permits in China, the US, the UAE, Singapore and France. History WeRide was established in Silicon Valley in 2017 by Tony Han, who was the former Chief Scientist of Baidu's Autonomous Driving Unit. It currently has offices in San Jose, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. As of 2025, it has over 2000 employees. In November 2020, WeRide announced that a total of 147,128 trips were completed for more than 60,000 passengers during its first year of Robotaxi service. In January 2021, WeRide unveiled the Mini Robobus. In April that year, WeRide obtained a driverless test permit in California. In September, WeRide created a self-driving cargo van called the WeRide Robovan. In December, WeRide completed an autonomous taxi trial on Yas Island in the UAE, in partnership with Bayanat. In May 2022, WeRide partnered with Bosch to jointly develop an Advanced driver-ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VIPKid
VIPKid, also known as VIPKID, is an online teaching and education company. History Founded in 2013 and formally launched in 2014 by Cindy Mi, the VIPKid platform connects paying students with teachers in the United States and Canada. Its online-classroom portal enables students to receive 25-minute English language lessons from fluent English-speaking teachers. Students and teachers communicate via its global classroom platform. In 2017, VIPKid launched a new service, Lingo Bus, to teach Mandarin to students of 5 to 12 years old. In 2017, VIPKid reported that it had raised $200 million in initial series funding, and in April 2018 raised an additional $500 million in series D+ funding. Combined, this amount equated VIPKID's valuation to $3 billion. As of November 2018, the company reported having 60,000 contracted teachers to teach 500,000 students. In May 2020, VIPKID announced that all current teachers would gradually transition to a new service fee structure and the base ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TuSimple
TuSimple Holdings, Inc. is a Chinese autonomous trucking company, based in San Diego, California, with offices in Arizona, Texas, and China. It was founded in 2015 by Xiaodi Hou and Mo Chen. In December 2023, the company announced that it would be closing its U.S. business and moving to China. History TuSimple was founded in September 2015 by Mo Chen and Dr Xiaodi Hou, who graduated from the California Institute of Technology. The company initially operated in two facilities: one in Beijing, China and one in San Diego, California. Partnerships * Minority share purchase and testing of TuSimple trucks announced by UPS in August 2019 * Development of sensors for autonomous vehicles systems with automotive supplier ZF in early 2020. * Plans to integrate self-driving technology into the trucks manufactured by Navistar International Corp. in July 2020, with sales of such trucks targeted by 2025. The partnership was mutually dissolved in December 2022. * Agreement with Trat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Securly
Securly, Inc. is an educational software company based in San Jose, California and incorporated in Delaware. It develops and sells internet filters and other technologies which primary and secondary schools use to monitor students' web browsing, web searches, video watching, social media posts, emails, online documents, and drives. It was founded in January 2013. Reception Securly has been heavily criticized by people for a lot of reasons, such as providing tools that let schools block websites and the ability to invade students' privacy. As a result, videos have shown exploits to show how to get around or bypass its filtering and monitoring, but almost all of them have been patched. In 2017, the ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' reported on Arrowhead High School's implementation of Securly, which received large backlash from parents and students. The software monitors activity of school-owned equipment and students' own devices that are connected to their school's Wi-Fi. Poi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planetary Resources
Planetary Resources, Inc., formerly known as Arkyd Astronautics, was an American company that was formed on 1 January 2009,ARKYD Astronautics Founded http://www.planetaryresources.com/2009/01/draft-arkyd-astronautics-founded/ and reorganized and renamed in 2012. Its stated goal was to "expand Earth's natural resource base" by developing and deploying the technologies for asteroid mining. Following financial troubles caused by "delayed investment", it was announced on 31 October 2018, that the company's human assets were purchased by the blockchain software technology company ConsenSys, Inc. In May 2020, ConsenSys made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niu Technologies
Niu Technologies ( zh, 牛电科技; stylized as NIU) is an electric scooter company headquartered in Beijing, China. Yan Li has been its CEO and COO since December 2017. Niu's products include electric scooters, electric bicycles, e-scooters and electric motorcycles. Niu vehicles include digital displays, Bluetooth connectivity, and mobile apps that let users track their rides, map their routes and monitor battery life. History The company was founded in 2014 by Baidu's former chief technology officer, Li Yinan, and Token Yilin Hu. The first Niu scooters were crowdfunded. It differentiated itself by using lithium-ion batteries as opposed to the cheaper lead-acid alternatives widely used in Chinese e-scooters at the time. In 2018, it was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker NIU. In 2019, Revel Transit launched in New York City with 1,000 Niu electric scooters, later expanding to Washington DC, Austin and Miami. In 2021, Niu expanded its product line to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
