Venture capital investment in AI doubled to US$12 billion in 2017

The 10 biggest venture capital deals of Q4 are split evenly between China and the US, KPMG report shows

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Many of the companies that received funding are putting it towards developing their AI capabilities. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:01am, 19 Jan 2018Updated: 8:18am, 19 Jan 2018

Artificial intelligence, particularly its applications in health, finance and the automotive sector, attracted US$12 billion of investment from venture capitalists globally last year, double the volume in 2016, according to a report by KPMG.

AI pushed total venture capital (VC) investment in China to a record high of US$40 billion in 2017, up 15 per cent from the previous year.

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China accounted for five of the world’s 10 biggest venture capital investments in the fourth quarter, the data released on Thursday shows. And more of the companies receiving the financing are electing to plough that money into AI development.

Didi-Chuxing, China’s top ride-hailing company, received US$4 billion in a round of fundraising led by Softbank in December, in part to enhance their AI capabilities. That was the largest venture capital investment globally in the fourth quarter.

In October, China’s biggest on-demand internet service provider Meituan-Dianping also announced US$4 billion in funding led by Tencent Holdings, an existing investor. The capital would be spent on improving offline services and AI technology, the company said.

And in early November, Chinese electric vehicle start-up Nio raised more than US$1 billion in its latest fundraising round, also led by Tencent as an existing investor. The company last month launched its first model, the ES8 SUV, with an internal AI-driven personal assistant installed.

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