Baidu's AI Subsidiary Xiaodu Raised Funds Independently for Building Family Education Platform
2020-10-05 00:32:53

Xiaodu Technology, the artificial intelligence business subsidiary of Baidu, raised funds independently on September 30th. The latest round was led by Baidu Ventures and CPE, with IDG Capital also participating. After this deal, Xiaodu’s valuation will be approximately 20 billion yuan, and Baidu Group still is the majority shareholder.

It is reported that the deal shows Baidu’s plan to spin off its AI speaker unit Xiaodu. According to Robin Li Yanhong, Baidu’s Chairman and CEO, it is an important milestone for Baidu to incubate innovative businesses and collaborate with the Group’s core development strategy to explore more potentials.

Established in March 2018, Xiaodu is a developer of AI products, including smart headset, speaker, screen, etc. The segment is dedicated to meeting the individual needs of specific groups, enabling the customers to have more advanced intelligent life experiences. According to the data of Canalys, Xiaodu’s smart speaker shipments will rank the third worldwide, just following the Amazon and Google Assistant.

In December 2019, more attention has been attached to the education business. Focusing on providing education companies with more channels of content and consumer acquisition, Xiaodu now is planning to build up “the largest family education platform for children in China”.

Related Articles