Backed up by the real estate conglomerate China Everbright, Terminus is running on a smoother mechanism in its 'smart city' projects than its AI peers.
Terminus building. Image credit: Terminus
On September 8, China's Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things (AIoT) company Terminus completed an investment deal with Investcorp, a global investor originating in Bahrain in the Middle East. The funding will be used to further expand the AIoT company's 'AI CITY' project.
Terminus closed Series C1 financing of CNY 2 billion (USD 293 million) in 2019, led by China Everbright Group (Everbright, 00165:HK). Earlier in 2018, Everbright and Investcorp jointly set up a dollar fund of USD 480 million to invest in tech-driven business. Later in May 2020, Everbright and Investcorp intended to raise a new dollar fund, which might double the size of the previous fund.
Controlled by the Chinese conglomerate Everbright, Terminus has expedited its development in the smart city area, where we find the greatest concentration of upcoming AI companies, including SenseTime, Yitu, Megvii and CloudWalk as well as giants Alibaba (BABA:NYSE), Tencent (00700:HK) and Huawei. Incubated by Everbright – one of China's real estate leaders – Terminus transcended from a smart lock hardware maker to an AIoT solution provider and started to help automate property management and further offer smart city solutions.
After cooperating with the Chongqing government to build 'smart communityies locally, Terminus formed a partnership with 2020 Expo Dubai to implement its 'AI CITY' solution for the coming international fair. Incubated by its real estate stakeholder Everbright, Terminus was born with a deeper understanding of property management, which facilitates its development in smart city construction.