ViSenze Completes $10.5 Million Round Of Venture Funding

ViSenze, the artificial intelligence company that develops visual technology for eCommerce and digital businesses, announced on Friday (Sept. 16) it has completed a $10.5 million Series B round of financing. The financing will be used to invest further in the company’s proprietary image recognition technology, expand headcount and grow its international offices.

According to ViSenze, the funding was led by Rakuten Ventures, the venture capital arm of internet giant Rakuten, and two co-lead investors: WI Harper Group, a leader in cross-border investment between the United States and China, and Enspire Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage technology startups in the United States and Asia. Other participating investors included SPH Media Fund, the investment arm of media company Singapore Press Holdings (SPH); FengHe Fund Management, an Asian alternative asset management firm founded by Alibaba ex-CTO John Wu; Raffles Venture Partners; Phillip Private Equity; and UOB Venture Management.

“ViSenze has achieved impressive market traction with their groundbreaking AI technology in the eCommerce space. With their innovation DNA, they are developing new solutions, bringing simplified shopping experiences on digital content platforms. Their new solutions for video commerce have huge potential, too. We are very excited to continue investing in ViSenze and lead their Series B round,” said Saemin Ahn, managing partner of Rakuten Ventures in a press release.

ViSenze noted the latest round of funding reflects the revenue growth at the company, which is up 300 percent year over year during the last 12 months. The company said its API-based solutions are exposed to over 250 million monthly active users.

“Online search is a fundamental part of our daily lives, yet the majority of visual shoppers are saying keyword search is inadequate in today’s visual web world. So, we want to solve this problem by simplifying the way online users look for information or shop for products online,” said Oliver Tan, cofounder and CEO of ViSenze, in the press release.