SenseTime Group Ltd., China’s largest artificial intelligence company, is exploring a dual listing in Hong Kong and China as it closes in on $1.5 billion of pre-IPO financing, according to people familiar with the matter.
The SoftBank Group Corp.-backed company is seeking a pre-funding valuation of about $8.5 billion before kicking off an initial public offering, the people said, requesting not to be named because the matter is private. Sensetime is leaning toward a dual listing in Hong Kong and China though it hasn’t finalized a timeline, the people said. Its IPO plans are preliminary and could be subject to change, they added.
The startup is kickstarting plans for an IPO that had been waylaid by pandemic-induced market volatility as well as a U.S. blacklisting that threatens to curtail its access to vital American technology. It’s now considering tapping markets in Hong Kong and mainland China simultaneously, betting on a recent resurgence of investor interest in new listings.
SenseTime is at the vanguard of a rising crop of Chinese players that have benefited from the country’s rapid adoption of facial recognition technology and AI across a plethora of sectors. The company is working with 127 cities across its home country to use cameras to analyze everything from traffic to residential complex security.
A representative for SenseTime declined to comment.
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