Chinese facial recognition startup Face++ raises $25M

Chinese facial recognition technology startup Face++ has secured an additional $25 million for its series B round, bringing the company’s total series B to $47 million, according to a report by TechCrunch.

Qiming Venture Partners and Innovation Works contributed to the recent funding round, as well as the previous round in November.

Face++ provides an API and SDK, as well as custom cloud services, for companies looking to use facial recognition technology.

One of Face++’s biggest clients is Ant Financial, the financial subsidiary of Alibaba and developer of online payment platform Alipay.

Ant Financial is currently seeking regulatory approval that would allow it to use Face++’s software to confirm the identities of prospective customers who are looking to start an online bank account.

The facial recognition technology is also used in Alipay’s “smile to pay” service, which enables customers to authenticate payments by taking a selfie.

Additionally, traditional banks have approached Face++ about possible partnerships, said Face++’s public relations representative Sam Xie.

Used by over 30,000 developers, Face++’s API is integrated in various photography and entertainment apps, including photo app Camera360 and Ukrainian dating service Flinch.

The company said it will use capital from its series B funding to develop a new commercial application for its technology.

Although Xie did not provide specific details about the app, he said Face++ is planning to launch the product this year.

Article Topics

Alibaba Group  |  Alipay  |  API  |  banking  |  biometrics  |  face  |  funding  |  mobile identity credentialing  |  SDK