China AI chip designer Horizon Robotics to gain up to $1 billion in Series B round

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Beijing Horizon Robotics Technology Co.,Ltd (Horizon Robotics), a China's leading technology company of embedded artificial intelligence, will reportedly raise up to $1 billion in the Series B round funding that is going to value the company at between $3 billion and $4 billion.

Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, revealed at the 2018 Security China last month that the startup will complete a new round of financing by the end of 2018, raising around $500 million to $1 billion.

Among players who regard autonomous driving as crucial development direction, Horizon Robotics is one of earliest companies in China that proposed independent R&D of AI chips. Yu Kai, left Baidu in May 2015 as vice president of Baidu Research and director of Baidu IDL (Institute of Deep Learning) and then founded the Horizon Robotics in July, a AI platform specializing in deep neural networks.

In December 2017, the startup launched its first-generation AI vision chips, namely, the Journey 1.0 Processor that facilitates smart mobility and the Sunrise 1.0 Processor available for smart camera wise. Currently, the AI company is partnering with Audi for autonomous vehicle development in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.

The three-year-old startup has obtained investments from many capital enterprises, including Intel Capital, Harvest Capital, Hillhouse Capital Group, Sequoia Capital, Morningside Venture Capital as well as Linear Venture. From the time being, it has finished 5 rounds of fundraising. Especially, the Series A+ financing completed last year gained up to nearly $100 million.