(Yicai Global) July 20 -- Chinese artificial intelligence firm Unisound Information Technology has completed its Series C+ of financing worth CNY600 million (USD88.6 million).

Investors in this round were state-owned firms and government-controlled funds, such as China Internet Investment Fund, CICC Jiacheng Investment Management, and JIC Capital Management, state-backed The Paper reported. The funds will be used in the research and development of key technologies and talent employment.

Founded in 2012, Unisound is a Beijing-based speech recognition tech developer, and it has obtained several intellectual property rights for products involving home appliances, vehicles, robots, as well as healthcare, education, and law enforcement. Some of its clients include appliance manufacturers such as Gree, Haier, Hisense, and TCL.

In terms of home equipment, China's smart speaker sales will experience a sharp increase this year, with the sales number expected to hit about 1.2 million, while the combination of a screen matched with voice interaction is deemed to become the future trend, German market research firm GfK predicted.

Editor: Emmi Laine