(Yicai) April 24 -- Heihu Network Technology, a leading Chinese industrial software provider, has secured nearly CNY1 billion (USD146.5 million) to accelerate the deployment of industrial artificial intelligence applications and its overseas expansion.

The funds were raised in a Series D fundraiser and will serve to further deepen the integration of AI with real-world manufacturing scenarios, the Shanghai-based firm recently told Yicai, without revealing the investors.

Heihu Network has become profitable, while its annual revenue growth rate exceeded 60 percent, it noted. The company has kept investing in the research and development of multi-scenario industrial AI agents since 2023, deploying them at scale, it added.

"Heihu Network will further integrate AI agents into core factory workflows, helping outdated and inefficient production operations transform into new high-quality flexible capacity driven by data and AI," noted founder and Chief Executive Zhou Yuxiang.

Covering core links including design, scheduling, production, and quality inspection, the AI agents have upgraded operations from assisted to autonomous decision-making, Heihu Network pointed out, adding that it will keep exploring the application boundaries of AI in core manufacturing processes.

Established in 2016, Heihu Network's core products include production management software built on AI, big data, and cloud computing tech, having served over 40,000 factory clients.

Heihu Network holds 53 percent of the cloud-based production management software market in China, according to International Data Corporation. 

Editor: Martin Kadiev