In just four years, SenseTime went from being an academic project to become the world's most valuable artificial intelligence (AI) company with a current valuation of $4.5 billion. Based in China, the company has a portfolio of 700 clients and partners, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Qualcomm, Honda, Alibaba, Weibo, and more. They use their proprietary artificial intelligence and machine vision technology to drive its success and "redefine human life as we know it." With the number of core technologies, products, and services SenseTime offers, it's hard to believe it's such a young company. Here are just a few ways SenseTime uses artificial intelligence to "power the future." SenseTime developed several AI technologies including face, image, object and text recognition; medical image and video analysis; remote sensing; and autonomous driving systems.

SenseTime, an AI-powered facial recognition company, is breaking funding records. The news: Bloomberg says that SenseTime has raised $600 million from Alibaba and other investors at a valuation of over $3 billion, making it the world's most valuable AI startup. I spy money: SenseTime's technology helps power China's massive surveillance networks. The firm will use some of the cash to build at least five supercomputers to help track many thousands of live video feeds, boost staffing, and fund a push into autonomous driving and augmented reality. And more money: Bloomberg reports that the firm is already in talks to raise more cash and is targeting a valuation of over $4.5 billion.

SenseTime Group has raised $600 million from Alibaba Group Holding (baba) and other investors at a valuation of more than $3 billion, becoming the world's most valuable artificial intelligence startup. The company, which specializes in systems that analyze faces and images on an enormous scale, said it closed a Series C round in recent months in which Singaporean state investment firm Temasek Holdings and retailer Suning.com. SenseTime didn't outline individual investments, but Alibaba was said to have sought the biggest stake in the three-year-old startup. With the deal, SenseTime has doubled its valuation in a few months. Backed by Qualcomm (qcom), it underscores its status as one of a crop of homegrown firms spearheading Beijing's ambition to become the leader in AI by 2030.

Chinese facial recognition technology developer SenseTime Group Ltd may be worth as much as $US4.5 billion. SenseTime says investors including Chinese e-commerce company Suning.Com and Singapore state fund Temasek Holdings helped close its series-C fundraising round. But the biggest pile-in came from Alibaba, which topped the round up to $US600 million. The company would not disclose its total valuation, but "two people with knowledge of the matter" told Reuters it brought SenseTime's value up to around $US4.5 billion. The company has claimed it "set a world record" for the amount raised in a single funding round by an AI firm. A series-B push led by China's CDH Investments and state-backed fund Sailing Capital in July valued the startup at over $1.5 billion.

SenseTime Group Ltd. has raised $600 million from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and other investors at a valuation of more than $3 billion, becoming the world's most valuable artificial intelligence startup. The company, which specializes in systems that analyze faces and images on an enormous scale, said it closed a Series C round in recent months in which Singaporean state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte and retailer Suning.com SenseTime didn't outline individual investments, but Alibaba was said to have sought the biggest stake in the three-year-old startup. With the deal, SenseTime has doubled its valuation in a few months. Backed by Qualcomm Inc., it underscores its status as one of a crop of homegrown firms spearheading Beijing's ambition to become the leader in AI by 2030.