Shanghai AI firm taps into global market

Artificial intelligence and globalization are expected to fuel growth for Shanghai-based high-tech startup CC Intelligence Corp, which has 700 million users worldwide.

CC Intelligence covers both consumer and business users with or science text recognition technology and other AI technologies. STR, already used in Samsung, Huawei and Oppo phones, helps users “recognize” business cards, credit cards and online payment documents automatically. It now services more than 200 Fortune 500 companies, including banks and securities firms.

In 2018, the company invested about 200 million yuan (US$29.4 million) on research and development.

It will increase investment and pour 60 percent of revenue into research this year, despite expectations AI startups face a “winter” amid an uncertain economic outlook  and decreased investment, said Sunny Chen, co-founder of CC Intelligence.

The company aims to sell AI technologies to various industries covering finance, insurance, new retail, logistics, manufacturing and real estate.

Its Cam Card application has 370 million users globally for recording and sharing business cards easily. Its mobile scanning application Cam Scanner has 320 million users, 75 percent of them coming from overseas markets.

The user base is expected to grow to more than 400 million with the overseas expansion, Chen added.