Zongwei, a Chinese developer of production automation solutions, has raised strategic financing, while Shenzhen-based AI firm Intellifusion Technologies plans to acquire a smart wearable design house.
Zongwei secures $28m from strategic investor BYD & others
China’s Zongwei Technology, which offers intelligent production automation solutions, has raised almost 200 million yuan ($27.8 million) in two strategic funding rounds, the startup announced on Monday.
Zongwei, whose clients include Apple, Huawei Technologies, and electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla, said the capital injection will allow it to expand the team, explore overseas expansion, and invest further in technological R&D and product development.
Chinese EV giant BYD, also an existing client of Zongwei, invested in the latest financing alongside other domestic investors such as Yongxin Ark Equity Investment and Leader Venture Capital. Existing shareholders Hua Capital and 01VC doubled down on the new rounds.
The startup closed its Series A round led by Hua Capital with participation from 01VC in early 2023. In August 2022, it completed an angel round with capital from smartphone maker Xiaomi’s co-founder Lei Jun-backed Shunwei Capital.
Intellifusion to acquire smart wearable firm Qiancheng
Shenzhen-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm Intellifusion Technologies plans to acquire a domestic independent design house (IDH) to integrate its AI technologies into smart wearables for enhanced market competitiveness.
Intellifusion, which made its name providing facial recognition technology to traffic police in Shenzhen, is looking to buy all shares of Qiancheng, a privately held smart wearable hardware and software developer, for up to 180 million yuan ($25 million).
This planned acquisition will help Intellifusion optimise the business layout, said Intellifusion in a March 23 filing with the Shanghai stock exchange.
“The deal will give Intellifusion access to the target company’s technological capability, industry expertise, and resources in the smart wearable space. It will enable Intellifusion to promote the integration of AI with smart wearable devices and advance the commercialisation of our self-developed large language models,” said the firm in the filing.
The target company, Qiancheng, was founded in 2018 as an IDH providing hardware, software, and tech solutions to develop Internet of Things (IoT) products like smart headsets, smartwatches, and smart speakers. Already a profit-making business, Qiancheng mainly serves domestic consumer electronics brands including Huawei Technologies, Honor, Oppo, and Vivo, as well as Noise and boAt in India.