It’s Taiwan’s first startup to be backed by Sequoia, and it just raised $23M

Taiwan-based artificial intelligence startup Appier has closed a US$23 million series B round, the company announced today. The funding came from UOB Venture Management, Sequoia India, JAFCO Asia, TransLink Capital, and MediaTek Ventures. It brings Appier’s total funding so far to US$30 million.

(UPDATE, 10pm: The story has been updated with comments from Appier CEO Chih-Han Yu. In addition, a previous version of the story incorrectly referred to Appier as the only Taiwanese startup Sequoia has invested in. This has been corrected.)

Appier has received the funding in full and will use it to expand to more Asian markets and to recruit new talent. The company currently has more than 100 employees, and plans to double that number by the end of 2016, according to CEO Chih-Han Yu. The company’s US$6 million series A funding in June 2014 (also from Sequoia) enabled it to build an international management team and a talented scientific team. “Today’s funding will enable us to invest in hiring more great talent,” Chih-Han tells Tech in Asia. “In particular, we’re looking for AI scientists, systems engineers, and product managers, as well as folks on the marketing and sales side.”

“Our investors have already been quite helpful in helping Appier to grow in talent and market expansion,” he adds. “We’re very excited to work with each of these new partners. Each brings a particular strength and expertise that our team can benefit from. For example, UOBVM is very strong in Southeast Asia, a key market for us. JAFCO specializes in helping companies strengthen their position in Japan as well as expand across Asia, with a particular emphasis on those of us in the technology sector. Both TransLink and our original partner Sequoia exemplify Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial heritage, while MediaTek is strong in Taiwan.”

The company uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide insights on users’ cross-screen behavior. That means tracking how people use different devices for different purposes, at different times. Insights from this information can be valuable to, say, advertisers who want to form a clearer picture of a prospective customer in order to serve more targeted ads.

“Although much of Asia sees the highest tablet usage on weekends, Indian tablet users are most active on weeknights, while Australian PC users are most active on Sundays,” the startup offers as an example of the insights it gathers. “Advertisers trying to reach customers online face mounting complexity as the number and types of screens multiply. AI can help navigate the complexities and help predict both how people travel across PCs, smartphones, tablets and TVs, and the best way to reach them.”

(From L to R:) Chief revenue officer Fabrizio Caruso, chief operating officer Winnie Lee, chief executive officer and co-founder Chih-Han Yu, chief marketing officer Caroline Hsu, chief technology officer and co-founder Chia-Yung Su.

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Appier’s edge lies in its founders’ expertise in AI. Chih-Han spent a decade at Harvard and Stanford researching artificial intelligence for things like robots and self-driving cars. Together with his current CTO Chia-Yung Su, he tried to get a mobile games company going, before realizing their clients were much more interested in their AI background than their games.

For now, the firm provides insights in the advertising space, but its technology isn’t necessarily good for just one purpose. “Our technology can help bridge the complexity of the cross screen era,” Chih-Han says. “It makes sense to start with advertising […] but this is only one application of cross screen AI, and we foresee many areas which can benefit from this approach, such as business intelligence.”

The company now has offices in Taipei, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Hong Kong, Mumbai, New Delhi, Jakarta, and Seoul. It says it serves more than 500 brands and clients (including big names like Heineken, Nike, L’Oreal, Lancome, and Ikea). It reports revenue growth of over 300 percent in the past year, and 600 percent since it raised its series A.

“We’re delighted with the progress at Appier in the last 18 months since we partnered with them,” says Shailendra Singh, managing director for Sequoia Capital India. “Appier has assembled a team of very accomplished AI scientists, for solving a very important and challenging set of problems in the cross screen internet era. Their stellar growth across multiple countries, borne out of results delivered for 500 advertisers, gives us high conviction that Appier can continue to scale rapidly.”

What do you think about AI technology being used for this type of business analytics? Are you excited about it, or wary of it? Chime in with your thoughts below.