China's Baidu Inc. introduces its venture capital firm which will initially focus using its $200 million funding for projects related to virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
According to a statement from Baidu cited by the China Daily, the company called Baidu Venture will concentrate on developing early-stage projects involving VR and AI technologies.
The outlet also revealed that Robin Li Yanhong, the chief executive office of the mother company, will serve as the chairman of the new venture firm which is initially granted an investment fund worth a hefty $200 million.
"The first-phase investment is planned at US$200 million and the fund will invest in projects that are at their early stage," the South China Morning Post quoted the company's statement.
In the statement, Baidu explained that Baidu Ventures will be an independent entity in order to "use an innovative evaluation mechanism to speed up the decision-making process and make investments more efficient."
Earlier this month, Li revealed to the media his belief that artificial intelligence would be "the single most important development for the global internet sector in future."
"AI is our opportunity and we're pretty fortunate the world is coming to this stage," Li said.
"Artificial intelligence is the next big development in the Internet industry, which is the core of Baidu. We have made a great effort in developing this technology over the past five to six years," he added
Talking to the South China Morning Post, JP Morgan analysts previously warned that Baidu is not poised to make any significant mark that would serve as growth drivers for the search engine. That is, if the company does not succeed in high-tech ventures like AI.
Beijing-based Internet constancy Analysys analyst Zhao Ziming echoed this and explained that having a separate entity focusing on the AI venture would grant Baidu an advantage over other firms going on the same path.