Jul 12, 2021

(Yicai Global) July 12 -- Chinese artificial intelligence platform Xiaoice has secured USD1 billion in a Series A fundraiser, led by Hillhouse Capital Group. Hedge fund manager Neumann Advisors, IDG Capital, 5Y Capital also joined pre-A-round investors Northern Light Venture and NetEase Capital in the Series A round, tech information website 36Kr reported today. Xiaoice, which makes use of natural language processing, computer voice and vision, and generates AI content, was launched by Microsoft Asia Internet Academy of Engineering in December 2013. Last July, Microsoft decided to spin off its Chinese chatbot business to improve its commercial use. The platform’s AI system Avatar Framework can speak with humans over the phone and use streaming video to detect emotions and engage in conversation based on a person's expressions. The firm has already partnered with companies in multiple sectors including finance, retailing, automobile, real estate and textile. Editor: Futura Costaglione