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Chinese mobile Internet unicorn APUS acquires AI-based photo curation platform Siftr

Siftr has developed a Computer Vision Engine that can perform multiple tasks, including object identification, facial recognition, age and gender detection

APUS Group, a fast-growing mobile Internet company in China with over 510 million global users, has acquired Siftr Labs, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based photo curation platform based in Jaipur (India).

The details of the transaction were not disclosed. With the deal, Venture Catalysts, a seed investment platform and investor in Siftr, has exited the photo-curation platform.

According to Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder of Venture Catalysts, the acquisition will help Siftr to grow vertically by tapping the extensive global experience of the premier unicorn. “This deal has also hinted towards continued interest of global players in building their arsenal of machine learning technologies, and has marked the beginning of sustained Chinese tech acquisitions on Indian soil.”

Siftr was founded by veterans from Adobe, Qualcomm, and Samsung with significant expertise in machine learning, image processing, and mobile development. The company leverages deep learning technology to develop a proprietary Computer Vision Engine that can perform multiple ground-breaking tasks, including object identification, facial recognition, age and gender detection, as well as perceiving photo genres.

The platform continuously analyses online all the photos of the user using cutting-edge AI, finds their best shots, and lays them out in a beautiful manner.

Siftr Labs team
Siftr Labs team

Siftr Labs team

The startup has also developed a mobile app Siftr Magic, which enables users to delete junk and irrelevant photos on their devices.

The photo-curation platform has worked together with cohorts of investors, market leaders, and domain experts at Venture Catalysts who provided it with domain-specific insights, appropriate entrepreneurial pedigree, and mentorship, something that contributed to its success and international recognition.

Founded in 2014, APUS is a mobile Internet company. APUS refers to a smartphone user system, which essentially is a lightweight operation system. The company released its first product APUS Launcher in July 2014. Since its foundation, APUS has become strategic cooperation partners with Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Amazon, InMobi as well as other mobile Internet tycoons. In August 2015, APUS entered the coveted group of Unicorn.

And just after its foundation in June 2014, APUS Group has attracted an investment at RMB 100 million (US$14.5 million) by Northern Light Venture Capital and Redpoint Ventures. In December 2014, it received more than US$100 million in its Series B financing round from Chengwei Capital, SIG and Qiming Venture Partners. And Northern Light Venture Capital and Redpoint Venture furthered their investments. Currently, ASUS’s market value has exceeded US$1.5 billion.

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