Baichuan completes RMB 5 billion Series A1 round
Baichuan Intelligence, one of China’s leading artificial intelligence companies, has completed its Series A funding round, raising RMB 5 billion (USD 690 million). The round, announced in October 2023, saw significant participation from Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi, and other top-tier institutions. Additional investments came from the Beijing AI Industry Investment Fund, Shanghai AI Industry Investment Fund, and Shenzhen Capital Group (SCGC).
Sources told 36Kr that the company’s post-Series A valuation has now reached RMB 20 billion (USD 2.7 billion). Baichuan is already preparing for a Series B round based on this valuation. The company has yet to respond to media inquiries for confirmation.
Founded in April 2023 by former Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan, Baichuan boasts a core team of AI experts from prominent tech companies such as Google, Tencent, Baidu, Huawei, Microsoft, and ByteDance. Baichuan is distinguished by its focus on medical applications, having recently made significant advancements in this area. Notably, it has outperformed GPT-4 in medical evaluation tasks and launched an AI health advisor.
Since its inception, Baichuan has released 12 large models, including Baichuan-7B, Baichuan-13B, and Baichuan 4, and introduced its AI assistant, Baixiaoying, in May 2024.
Looking ahead, Baichuan aims to develop a roadmap for AI medical technology with benchmarks akin to autonomous driving levels. The goal is to enable AI to autonomously recommend treatment plans, with critical decisions confirmed by doctors.
SeaVantage secures USD 2.3 million investment from HD Hyundai Marine Solution
SeaVantage, a South Korean startup specializing in advanced maritime data analytics, has raised USD 2.3 million from HD Hyundai Marine Solution.
This partnership aims to enhance services for customers by providing extended visibility for shipment tracking, ports, terminals, and rail. SeaVantage will leverage this investment to boost its AI and big data capabilities, while HD Hyundai Marine Solution will benefit from advanced maritime analytics to drive sustainability initiatives.
Bitlayer Labs Raises USD 11 million in Series A funding
Bitlayer Labs, said to be the first Bitcoin Layer-2 network based on the BitVM paradigm, has raised USD 11 million following the completion of its Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Franklin Templeton and ABCDE, with additional participation from Stake Capital Group, WAGMI Ventures, Skyland Ventures, Flow Traders, GSR Ventures, FalconX, Metalpha, 280 Capital, Presto Labs, and Caladan. Notable angel investors included Domo, the creator of BRC20, and Brian Kang, co-founder of FactBlock KBW.
This latest round brings Bitlayer’s total funding to USD 16 million. The funds will be used to expand Bitlayer’s ecosystem, support the development of Mainnet V2, and enhance its Bitcoin-native rollup capabilities.
i2i Ventures, Seeds Finance, Hive Health, and more led yesterday’s headlines:
- i2i Ventures, a Pakistani female-led venture capital fund, secured a USD 3 million investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under its Startup Catalyst Program. The investment consists of up to USD 2 million from IFC’s own account and up to USD 1 million from the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi).
- Seeds Finance, a gamified investment platform, received further funding from its early-stage investor, Seven Capital Valor. The funding details were not disclosed.
- Hive Health, a Philippine health insurance company, reportedly closed a pre-Series A funding round with the backing of various investors including Gentree Fund and Beenext.
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