Horizon is often seen as potentially becoming China’s equivalent of NVIDIA. The company is founded by Dr Kai Yu, a prominent industry figure with quite the credentials.

Yu led Baidu’s AI Research lab for three years, founded the Baidu Institute of Deep Learning, and launched the company’s autonomous driving business unit.

Furthermore, Yu has taught at Stanford University, published over 60 papers, and even won first place in the ImageNet challenge which evaluates algorithms for object detection and image classification.

China is yet to produce a chipset firm which can match the capabilities of Western equivalents.

With increasing US sanctions making it more difficult for Chinese firms to access American semiconductors, a number of homegrown companies are emerging and gaining attention from investors.

Horizon is just five-years-old and specialises in making AI chips for robots and autonomous vehicles. The company has already attracted significant funding.

Around two years ago, Horizon completed a $600 million funding round with a $3 billion valuation. The company has secured $150 million so far as part of this latest round.

While it’s likely the incoming Biden administration in the US will take a less strict approach to trade with China, it seems Beijing wants to build more homegrown alternatives which can match or surpass Western counterparts.

Chinese tech giants like Huawei are investing significant resources in their chip manufacturing capabilities to ensure the country has the tech it needs to power groundbreaking advancements like self-driving cars.

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Data from Dealroom was used for the State of European Tech report. Dealroom defines deep tech as 16 fields: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Drones, Autonomous Driving, Blockchain, Nanotech, Robotics, Internet of Things, 3D Technology, Computer Vision, Connected Devices, Sensors Technology, and Recognition Technology (NLP, image, video, text, speech recognition).

In 2019, there was $10.2 billion capital invested in European deep tech. In 2020, that dropped to $8.9 billion:

I think it’s fair to say that 2020 has been a tough year for most people and businesses. Economic uncertainty – not just from COVID-19 but also trade wars, Brexit, and a rather tumultuous US presidential election – has naturally led to fewer investments and people tightening their wallets.

For just one example, innovative satellite firm OneWeb was forced to declare bankruptcy earlier this year after crucial funding it was close to securing was pulled during the peak of the pandemic. Fortunately, OneWeb was saved following an acquisition by the UK government and Bharti Global—but not all companies have been so fortunate.

Many European businesses will now be watching the close-to-collapse Brexit talks with hope that a deal can yet be salvaged to limit the shock to supply lines, prevent disruption to Europe’s leading financial hub, and help to build a friendly relationship going forward with a continued exchange of ideas and talent rather than years of bitterness and resentment.

The report shows the UK has retained its significant lead in European tech investment and startups this year:

Despite the uncertainties, the UK looks unlikely to lose its position as the hub of European technology anytime soon.

Investments in European tech as a whole should bounce back – along with the rest of the world – in 2021, with promising COVID-19 vaccines rolling out and hopefully some calm in geopolitics.

94 percent of survey respondents for the report stated they have either increased or maintained their appetite to invest in the European venture asset class. Furthermore, a record number of US institutions have participated in more than one investment round in Europe this year—up 36% since 2016.

You can find a full copy of the State of European Tech report here.

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Countries around the world are vastly increasing their budgets for AI, and with good reason. Just look at Gartner’s Hype Cycle released yesterday to see how important the technology is expected to be over the next decade.

Russian president Vladimir Putin famously said back in 2017 that the nation which leads in AI “will become the ruler of the world”. Putin said that AI offers unprecedented power, including military power, to any government that leads in the field.

China, the third global superpower, has also embarked on a major national AI strategy. In July 2017, The State Council of China released the “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan” to build a domestic AI industry worth around $150 billion over the next few years and to become the leading AI power by 2030.

Naturally, the US isn’t going to give that top podium spot to China without a fight.

The White House has proposed (PDF) a 30 percent hike in spending on AI and quantum computing. Around $1.5 billion would be allocated to AI funding and $699 million to quantum technology.

According to a report published by US national security think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Chinese officials see an AI ‘arms race’ as a threat to global peace.

The fear of the CNAS is that integrating AI into military resources and communications may breach current international norms and lead to conflict-by-accident.

China and the US have been vying to become the top destination for AI investments. Figures published by ABI Research at the end of last year suggested that the US reclaimed the top spot for AI investments back from China, which overtook the Americans the year prior. ABI expects the US to reach a 70 percent share of global AI investments.

Lian Jye Su, Principal Analyst at ABI Research, said: 

“The United States is reaping the rewards from its diversified AI investment strategy. 

Top AI startups in the United States come from various sectors, including self-driving cars, industrial manufacturing, robotics process automation, data analytics, and cybersecurity.”

The UK, unable to match the levels of funding allocated to AI research as the likes of the US and China, is taking a different approach.

An index compiled by Oxford Insights last year ranked the UK number one for AI readiness in Europe and only second on the world stage behind Singapore. The US is in fourth place, while China only just makes the top 20.

The UK has focused on AI policy and harnessing the talent from its world-leading universities to ensure the country is ready to embrace the technology’s opportunities.

A dedicated AI council in the UK features:

• Ocado’s Chief Technology Officer, Paul Clarke
• Dame Patricia Hodgson, Board Member of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation 
• The Alan Turing Institute Chief Executive, Professor Adrian Smith
• AI for good founder Kriti Sharma
• UKRI chief executive Mark Walport
• Founding Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, Professor David Lane

British Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright stated: “Britain is already a leading authority in AI. We are home to some of the world’s finest academic institutions, landing record levels of investment to the sector, and attracting the best global tech talent. But we must not be complacent.”

Growing cooperation between the UK and US in a number of technological endeavours could help to harness the strengths of both nations if similarly applied to AI, helping to maintain the countries’ leaderships in the field.

(Photo by Louis Velazquez on Unsplash)

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Health secretary Matt Hancock has championed GP at Hand since 2017. The digital service has come into question for providing unsafe recommendations, and for taking money away from surgeries already struggling with cuts.

The service has operated through the Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) across London. Due to the popularity of the app, the CCG has ended up with a £21.6m funding gap while it plans £10m of additional cuts.

According to the CCG, it’s working on a “solution to the financial impact” of GP at Hand and expects reimbursement from NHS England. The CCG promises that patients in Hammersmith and Fulham will “not be disadvantaged” by the funding gap.

The Hammersmith and Fulham CCG’s total deficit swelled to £37m this year. Cuts are planned in a wide range of areas including overnight urgent care centres, out of hours GP services, radiology, cardiology, gynaecology, mental health services, dementia support, rehabilitation, and more.

Babylon said: “We fully expect Babylon GP at Hand to reduce the costs on the overall NHS,” adding the NHS’s financial structure is “not designed to meet the needs of people who choose digital-first care”.

GP at Hand has appealed primarily to the younger generation who are used to digital services. Babylon Health has, in the past, been criticised for picking healthier patients and leaving more complicated cases to surgeries. Due to each surgery being funded on a per patient basis, this means GPs are being left with less overall funding to cover patients which use their services more.

Ipsos Mori was commissioned by the NHS last year to assess the impact of Babylon Health’s partnership with the NHS. On Thursday, the research group published its findings and said there were “questions about the financial impact of the service on the wider health system”.

AI-powered healthcare solutions will one day fulfil their exciting promise, but rushing to market only risks patients’ wellbeing.

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The fact you can add ‘AI’, ‘IoT’, or ‘blockchain’ to your company name/description and it will skyrocket your valuation has become something of a running joke in the industry. Shares in Long Island Iced Tea, for example, infamously shot up almost 200 percent after changing its parent company name to ‘Long Blockchain Corp.’

European AI startups have been similarly cashing in, according to research by London-based investment firm MMC Ventures.

MMC Ventures were unable to find any evidence of AI applications at 40 percent of 2,830 AI startups in Europe. Many, of course, do have plans to develop AI in the future.

‘Artificial intelligence’ has been used to define many things including the automation of tasks, machine learning algorithms, and complex neural networks. This has given businesses a broad scope to claim they’re using AI in some respect.

European venture capital groups pay attention when a startup claims to be using AI. Funding is between 15-50 percent higher than a typical software startup, according to MMC Ventures’ research.

However, the number of startups actually using AI is rapidly increasing. One in 12 are now using AI compared to one in 50 six years ago. 12 percent of large companies have started using AI in their business compared to just four percent the prior year.

The UK is the powerhouse of European AI, with a third of the continent’s startups. According to data from Capital IQ, European investors have doubled their UK investment over the past year.

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SenseTime raised more than $1.2 billion last year; including a round announced in May that valued it at more than $4.5 billion.

According to Bloomberg sources, the company is aiming for $2 billion more funding but the information is private. The sources claim investor Alibaba is working on the fundraising.

Following a fundraising round in 2018, Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai said:

“We are especially impressed by their R&D capabilities in deep learning and visual computing. Our business at Alibaba is already seeing tangible benefits from our investments in AI and we are committed to further investment.”

Other investors include Fidelity International, Silver Lake Partners, and Hopu Capital. A stake in the company was sold to chipmaker Qualcomm in 2017 when the company was valued at more than $1.5 billion.

SenseTime is particularly valuable due to providing technology for the Chinese government’s vast surveillance network. Its ‘Viper’ system aims to process and analyse over 100,000 simultaneous real-time streams from traffic cameras, ATMs, and more to automatically tag and keep track of individuals.

Earlier this year, SenseTime CEO Xu Li called for facial recognition standards to be established for a ‘healthier’ industry.

With China aiming to become a world leader in AI, investors are flocking to invest in related companies. The startup claims to be experiencing around 400 percent growth in recent years and has expanded beyond surveillance to industries such as connected cars.

SenseTime reportedly serves over 400 customers including high-profile brands such as Honda, Nvidia, and Huawei.

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