Megvii expanding facial recognition technology market reach into Southeast Asia

Beijing-based facial recognition startup Megvii has appointed a distributor in Thailand and is negotiating with commercial banks and building management to deploy its software as the company seeks to expand its presence in Southeast Asia, the South China Morning Post reports.

Company representatives also said at the Techsauce Global Summit in Bangkok that the distributor has demonstrated Megvii’s Face++ to police departments in Thailand, and received positive feedback. It is also demonstrating proofs of concept to airports in the region, and is holding exploratory talks with banks and state governments in Malaysia.

Megvii’s technology is used by Alipay, photo editing app Meitu, ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, Lenovo, Xiaomi, China Merchants Bank and China Citic Bank, as well as China’s Ministry of Public Security, according to the Post.

Megvii raised a whopping $460 million in a financing round last year.

Chinese organizations filed for almost ten times as many facial recognition patents as American ones last year, and the government’s support for the AI industry ranges from platform development to policy support.

Article Topics

Asia  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Megvii