Participated · Series B · Jun 2026

Stardust Intelligence develops humanoid and service robots for commercial deployment across retail, industrial manufacturing, hotels/tourism, public services, and education. The company has begun mass production and by late 2025 had delivered thousands of S1 robots and started T1 deliveries on June 1; the T1 is priced at ¥89,900. Stardust reports securing orders in the thousands of units across multiple sectors and has formed partnerships with local governments and industry players to deploy robots at scale. It also offers scenario-based solutions including collaborations with vocational education programs combining hands-on devices, digital courses, and company certification. Financially, recent financings exceeded ¥1 billion cumulatively and lifted the company's valuation above ¥10 billion, enabling continued manufacturing scale-up and market expansion.

Participated · Series B · Aug 2020

Shukun is a Chinese startup that uses AI to power medical imaging diagnosis. The company develops AI-driven tools for diagnosing medical images. It secured 700 million yuan (about $108 million) in a new funding round. The round was led by Goldman Sachs and Primavera Capital Group. The funding was announced on Monday. The article does not provide operating metrics, use of proceeds, or details on other investors. Shukun is a Beijing-based artificial intelligence startup focused on medical diagnostics. Its core product, CoronaryDoc, is an assisting software launched in early 2018 that helps doctors diagnose heart disease using visual recognition technologies. By the end of September 2019 CoronaryDoc had been used on a trial basis in more than 100 hospitals in China. In February the company launched an AI system to help diagnose COVID-19, which has been deployed in multiple hospitals including Wuhan Zhongxin Hospital. Shukun plans to use new funding to expand application of its AI technologies for cardiovascular and neurological diseases and cancer detection across hospitals nationwide, with emphasis on grass‑root medical institutions. The company was founded in 2017.

Participated · Series A · May 2018

Kneron designs low-powered, reconfigurable ASICs for AI inferencing that interface with existing systems such as sensors on driverless vehicles. Its chips run models ranging from face and body detection to text generation and are positioned for latency-, security- and cost-sensitive edge applications. The company emphasizes automotive and other autonomous-machine markets while avoiding direct competition with dominant cloud incumbents in the short term. Kneron plans to scale commercial efforts and expand its R&D-heavy headcount. Revenue is in the "double digit millions," and the company serves roughly 30 brands including Garmin, Naver and Quanta. Through its April acquisition of imaging provider Otus, Kneron has automotive partnerships including JVC Kenwood. Kneron develops full-stack hardware and software products aimed at edge AI applications, with reconfigurable solutions designed to address latency, security and cost challenges on edge devices. The company says its technology enables broader deployment of AI across devices. Over the past year Kneron reported significant new customer wins across multiple verticals including smart vehicles, smart homes and smart cities. Named customers in the article include Garmin, Dessmann, Gree, OFILM, AAEON, Advantech and Quanta. Led by CEO Albert Liu, Kneron intends to use the funding to expand operations and broaden its business reach. The company raised $48M in a Series B funding round. Kneron is an AI chipmaker founded in 2015 that develops reconfigurable edge AI semiconductors for devices including ADAS and autonomous-vehicle systems. The company is based in San Diego and Taipei and has released its first automotive-grade chips for ADAS and AV applications. Kneron reports $3–4 million in monthly revenue from about 30 enterprise customers, with 30–40% of revenues coming from the U.S. It is pushing into smart transportation and roadside AI, arguing that L4/L5 autonomy requires roadside perception units, and plans joint development of roadside AI boxes with strategic partners. Its chips are described as 'reconfigurable', combining software flexibility with hardware speed and usable both inside vehicles and on exterior sensors. Kneron has formed partnerships and made acquisitions (including buying Vatics from Vivotek) and counts strategic investors such as Foxconn, Horizon Ventures, Alibaba, Qualcomm and Sequoia. The founder previously said the company expected to turn profitable in 2023 and has discussed a likely U.S. IPO, though management was later more circumspect about listing timing. Kneron develops low-power edge AI semiconductors and proprietary software that enable on-device data processing using neural processing units (NPUs), reducing reliance on cloud compute. Its chips target applications including manufacturing, smart homes, smartphones, robotics, surveillance, payments and autonomous driving. The company is extending into the smart car industry and has partnerships with Foxconn and Otus (a supplier for Honda and Toyota). Kneron agreed to acquire Vatics, an image signal processing provider from Delta Electronics’ Vivotek subsidiary, for $10 million in cash; Vatics executives will join Kneron to lead its surveillance and security camera division. The acquisition and NPUs are intended to let Kneron offer full-stack AI solutions and accelerate go-to-market for surveillance and automotive products. Kneron is headquartered in San Diego with a development force in Taipei. The company has attracted strategic investors including Foxconn, Qualcomm, Sequoia Capital, Alibaba and Horizons Ventures and recently received a $7 million investment from Delta Electronics, boosting total financing to over $100 million to date. Kneron develops AI chips aimed at "smart" consumer devices and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). The article identifies the company primarily by its hardware product line but provides no technical details about the chips. It reports a planned investment by MTS of about $10 million into Kneron. The piece does not outline Kneron's roadmap, commercialization plans, or financial metrics. Reader comments included in the article expressed skepticism about the technology and sourcing, and noted a lack of technical information in the coverage.

Participated · Series C · Aug 2015

Nok Nok Labs delivers client and server authentication software (the Nok Nok S3 Authentication Suite) that leverages built-in device capabilities such as fingerprint sensors, cameras and secure silicon to provide FIDO-certified, strong authentication for mobile and web applications. The company supports a wide range of authentication technologies from a unified platform and lists customers and partners including AliPay, Lenovo, NTT DOCOMO, PayPal and Samsung. Nok Nok positions itself as a leader in commercial FIDO deployments and emphasizes user-friendly, standards-based security and privacy. With the new funding, NNL plans to accelerate deployment of its strong authentication solutions across private and public markets, particularly government, public safety and first responder agencies. The company also intends to expand its channel infrastructure to support growing partner demand. Financially, the company announced a Series D financing in which existing investors participated. Nok Nok Labs provides client and server software that leverages built-in device security (fingerprint sensors, cameras, TPMs) to deliver strong, user-friendly authentication to applications. Launched in 2011 by Ramesh Kesanupalli, the company is a founding member of the FIDO Alliance and lists customers and partners including NTT DOCOMO, PayPal, AliPay, Samsung and Lenovo. Its core product enables applications to use existing device capabilities for authentication rather than relying solely on passwords. The company completed the second and final closing of $8.0M in its Series C, bringing total Series C proceeds to $16.25M. Nok Nok intends to use the funds to expand sales, support and channel infrastructure, pursue global opportunities mainly in the Asia Pacific region, and continue technology innovation around and beyond the FIDO specifications. Nok Nok Labs delivers client and server software that leverages built-in device security such as fingerprint sensors, cameras and Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) to provide user-friendly authentication to applications. The company was launched in 2011 and is led by president and CEO Phillip Dunkelberger. Nok Nok announced support for the FIDO 1.0 specifications with a new version of its NNL S3 Authentication Suite, offering standards-based authentication for customers and partners. The firm intends to use the Series C proceeds to expand the business in the Asia Pacific region, add support capabilities, and partner with key regional strategic investors. Financially, the company reported an $8.25M Series C and has now raised $40M in total capital. Nok Nok Labs develops client and server authentication software that uses existing device security capabilities—built-in fingerprint sensors, cameras and Trusted Platform Modules—to provide authentication to applications. Its NNL™ S3 authentication suite is a centralized platform that enables use of a broad range of FIDO-Ready devices. The company is led by President and CEO Phillip Dunkelberger and founder Ramesh Kesanupalli. Nok Nok plans to use new funding to accelerate development and broaden the reach of the NNL S3 suite, expand sales, business development and marketing, and continue signing partnerships. The company has raised a total of $31.5M to date. Nok Nok Labs develops a Unified Authentication Infrastructure that leverages fingerprint sensors, webcams, Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chips, and voice biometrics to enable organizations to authenticate users across devices and locations. The platform integrates existing hardware and biometric capabilities to allow organizations to authenticate to anyone, anywhere and to any device. The company was founded in November 2011 and is led by CEO Phil Dunkelberger. Nok Nok is based in Palo Alto, California. In December 2013 the company raised $15m in funding to support its efforts. Its advisory board includes security and industry veterans such as Steve Babbage, Bob Lentz, Dr. Larry Ponemon, Nils Puhlmann, Jim Reavis, and Al Sisto.