Artificial intelligence (AI) developer Appier (沛星互動科技) yesterday said it has secured US$23 million from major private equity firms, including OB Venture Management Ptd Ltd and Sequoia Capital, in yet another round of fundraising.
The company said it would use the new funding for further expansion in Asia, while ramping up its research and development for cross-screen AI technology.
“We now have more than 100 employees. We hope to double the number by the end of next year. We are recruiting AI scientists, system engineers and marketing experts,” Appier cofounder and chief executive officer Yu Chih-han (游直翰) told a press conference in Taipei.
Taipei-based Appier has raised US$30 million since its establishment in 2012 and its investors include JAFCO Asia, MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and TransLink Capital.
Appier’s revenue has grown sixfold since June last year, but the company has no plans for an initial public offering any time soon, Yu said.
Appier develops AI technology that teaches computers how to make decisions. One major revenue source involves online advertising different devices.
The firm plans to introduce new services for applications beyond online advertising in the next few months, Yu said, declining to reveal details, but adding that medicine and transportation are two potential growth sectors.
The company counts more than 500 global brands and agencies among its clients, including Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越百貨), international makeup brand Makeup For Ever and Zarora, the largest online fashion retailer in Southeastern Asia.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last