Mobvoi, a Chinese tech firm, is planning to launch a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) in order to raise as much as $300 million. The two selected banks for the first-time share sale are the China International Capital Corporation and the China Merchants Bank International. This move was made after the firm debuted it’s own Artificial Intelligence (AI) large language model last month.
Mobvoi is a Beijing-based firm that is known for making smartwatches and smart speakers. Their cutting-edge AI software are used in services such as finance, telecoms and senior care. They have also been recipients of funding from a variety of companies such as Alphabet Inc’s Google, Volkswagen AG, Sequoia and Zhenfund.
The company was founded in 2012 by a group of former employees of Alphabet Inc’s Google. This was also the same time that Alphabet Inc made its first direct investment in China after the removal of their search engine in 2010.
The success of OpenAI Inc.’s chatbot has led to a surge of activity from AI companies in China to come up with their own answers to ChatGPT as they pursue more funding for further growth. Beijing’s top internet overseer has published draft rules which require an examination for AI services such as Mobvoi’s Xulie Houzi platform along with models of Baidu Inc. and SenseTime Group Inc.
This IPO could take place as soon as this year for Mobvoi, though things could still change. Mobvoi currently has around 700 employees and their offices are located in Beijing, Seattle and Taipei. All eyes are on the IPO launch and how it will help with the continued development of AI services in the country.
