DeePhi, a China-based deep learning technology developer backed by Tsinghua University-owned conglomerate Tsinghua Holdings, has raised $40m in a series A+ round, according to China Money Network.

Financial services provider Ant Financial and consumer electronics producer Samsung co-led the round, which also featured China Merchants Capital, an investment arm of state-owned holding company China Merchants Group, and VC firm China Growth Capital.

Ant Financial is an affiliate of e-commerce group Alibaba.

Founded in 2016, DeePhi develops neural network compression technology and hardware architecture for use in deep learning.

Samsung is reportedly interested in using the company’s technology in its portable devices to enable instantaneous speech recognition and neural language processing.

DeePhi had received an eight-figure dollar sum in a May 2017 series A round featuring Tsinghua Holdings and semiconductor makers MediaTek and Xilinx as well as Sigma Square Capital, GSR Ventures and Banyan Capital.

– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

Financial services provider Ant Financial and consumer electronics producer Samsung have co-led a $40m series A+ round for China-based deep learning technology developer DeePhi Tech, China Money Network reported on Monday.

China Merchants Capital, an investment arm of state-owned holding company China Merchants Group, also took part in the round, as did venture capital firm China Growth Capital. Ant Financial is an affiliate of e-commerce group Alibaba.

Founded in 2016, DeePhi develops neural network compression technology and hardware architecture for use in deep learning.

Samsung is reportedly interested in using the company’s technology in its portable devices to enable instantaneous speech recognition and neural language processing.

DeePhi had received an eight-digit dollar sum in a May 2017 series A round featuring semiconductor makers MediaTek and Xilinx as well as Sigma Square Capital, GSR Ventures, Banyan Capital and Tsinghua Holdings, the technology transfer arm of Tsinghua University.