Baidu, Inc. (“Baidu” or the “Company”), a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation, announced that Xiaodu Technology (“Xiaodu”) has closed Series B financing at a $5.1 billion post-money valuation (“Transaction”).
“We are pleased to see the rapid growth of Xiaodu, leveraging Baidu’s AI and large content and services mobile ecosystem, to change the way hardware provides value for consumers. Xiaodu entered the market in 2018 with sub RMB 100 smart speakers and rapidly became the world’s largest smart-display provider based on shipments,” said Herman Yu, CSO and CFO of Baidu. “DuerOS with voice modality and larger screen is growing Internet usage at home and becoming the command center for IoTs, with its fast growth of OEM partnerships. Services revenue surpassed 10% of Xiaodu revenues in the most recent quarter, encompassing membership, advertising and skills store revenue share.”
Baidu remains a super majority shareholder after the Transaction. Xiaodu Series A was completed in November 2020 at a post-money valuation of $2.9 billion.
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