SenseTime Group has raised $620 million at a valuation of more than $4.5 billion just months after scoring a similar amount from investors led by Alibaba (baba) and Singapore's state investment firm. Fidelity International and Silver Lake Partners were among the investors in the latest financing, bringing the total amount raised by the three-year-old image recognition startup in the past six months to more than $1.2 billion and tripling its valuation in under a year. Tiger Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Hopu Capital also participated. The latest funding will go toward research and talent acquisition, SenseTime said in a statement Thursday. Investors are handing billions of dollars to Chinese artificial intelligence startups, hoping to ride a wave of support from a government intent on becoming the world leader in the technology by 2030.