SenseTime, a Chinese developer of facial recognition technologies, is wrapping up a $1.5 billion funding round at a $10 billion valuation and is in talks to list on China’s STAR market, per Reuters.
Why it matters: This is the company’s first fundraise since being placed on a U.S. blacklist for alleged involvement in human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in China. It previously raised nearly $3 billion, including from U.S.-based firms like Fidelity, Glade Brook, Qualcomm Ventures, and Silver Lake Partners.
The bottom line: "SenseTime's founder Tang Xiaoou [said] in 2017 that the startup was considering a listing in U.S, Hong Kong, or China. The U.S. ban has made an overseas listing difficult, if not impossible," Reuters reports.
