Chinese BI newcomer GuanData announced to raise hundreds of millions of yuan in its Series B round of funding on July 15. The funding was led by Xiang He Capital and followed by Sequoia Capital China and Linear Venture.
GuanData raises money from reputable VC companies. Photo: Credit to Pexels.
GuanData (远观数据), a Chinese business intelligence (BI) newcomer, announced to raise hundreds of millions of yuan in its Series B round of funding on July 15. The company plans to employ the capital to product development and business development, according to Su Chunyuan (苏春园), founder and CEO of GuanData.
The funding was led by Xiang He Capital (襄禾资本), a venture capital institute founded by two original department managers of Baidu. Sequoia Capital China and Linear Venture, two reputable companies participating in the funding as well, had invested in GuanData in the previous two rounds separately. The tech startup has completed three rounds of financing in a total amount in excess of RMB 150 million (USD 21.8 million).
Founded in 2016, this Chinese BI new player provides intelligent and profound decision service driven by machine learning, under its original “5A” criteria: Agile, Accurate, Automated, Actionable, Augmented. The final goal of “5A” is to conduct actionable insights – the decision to give clients specific steps.
Retail is one of GuanData’s important target markets because of retailers’ fierce demand for customer engagement. The company develops integrated solutions to upgrade retail business aspects including merchants, supply chains, marketing strategies, brick-and-mortar stores, customer relationships, financial affairs and human resources.
GuanData is serving global leading FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) brands and retail companies such as Unilever, ABInbev, Elizabeth Arden, Arc'teryx, Lily, NOME, New At Naixue, and so forth.
In addition, GuanData also cooperates with enterprises from the financial industry and internet-related businesses. However, it must not be the endgame. BI technology has great potential to expand its application scenarios.
The concept of “AI + BI” is regarded as a promising scenario in enterprise service, attracting investors to explore the first Chinese BI giant since no BI company – or enterprise service enterprise – dominates in the vertical market.
The digital revolution in every traditional industry is on the upswing, where the splendid business opportunity exists. GuanData’s core team is capable to lead the company to be a leader, said Ji Yue (计越), partner of Sequoia Capital China.