Alibaba-backed AI facial recognition startup Megvii mulls up to US$1b IPO

Its high-ticket clients include Lenovo, Ant Financial and the government.

Bloomberg reports that Beijing-based Megvii is said to be mulling an IPO in Hong Kong that could raise between US$500m and US$1b as part of the effort to boost China’s market-leading position in AI by 2030.

Also read: Hong Kong's IPO haul may hit up to $230b in 2019

Backed by Alibaba, Megvii owns facial recognition developer Face++. It provides face-scanning systems to big-profile clients like Lenovo, Ant Financial, Foxconn, Oppo and Vivo.

The Chinese government is also employing the firm’s AI technology across more than 260 cities which helped facilitate the police arrest over 10,000 people.

However, deliberations of a share sale are still at an early stage and no final decision has been made. “We are considering many options to raise funds but have not committed to a final plan,” Xie Yinan, a spokesman for the company, said in a text message.

Here’s more from Bloomberg: