Nearly Half of Global AI Funds Went to Chinese Firms Last Year
Dou Shicong
DATE:  Apr 27 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Nearly Half of Global AI Funds Went to Chinese Firms Last Year Nearly Half of Global AI Funds Went to Chinese Firms Last Year

(Yicai Global) April 26 -- Funds secured by Chinese artificial intelligence companies made up almost one-half of the total worldwide last year.

Chinese AI firms raised a total of USD15.7 billion in funds, accounting for nearly 47 percent of the global tally, the latest report from Chinese think tank Wuzhen Institute shows. Each Chinese financing round yielded an average of over USD60 million.

Huge investments have given birth to a great number of AI companies. There were over 3,300 Chinese AI firms at the end of last year, accounting for more than 20 percent of all such companies in the world. About one-third of these Chinese firms came from the northern regions of Beijing, Hebei or northeastern Tianjin.

However, money streams are becoming more controlled as the number of early-stage financing rounds in the sector has declined for the first time this year. Investors are becoming increasingly mature as they pay more attention to core technologies as well as sustainable business models, the report added. 

Chinese firms obtained nearly 68,500 AI-related patents from 2009 to 2018, ranking first in the world. The number is over double that of the US. The top locations for these Chinese firms were Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanjing and Chengdu.

Editor: Emmi Laine

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Keywords:   AI,Chinese Startups