Founded in 2014, Shangtang Technology, known as the "four Little Dragons of AI", is also known as the "four Little Dragons of AI" with three AI start-ups in the field of vision, namely, Xuan Vision Technology, Yuncong Technology and Yitu Technology. According to a previous report released by third-party consultancy Frost&Sullivan, Shangtang was the highest-ranked AI company in Asia by revenue in 2020, with an 11 per cent market share in China's computer vision market.

Shangtang's main business model is to sell AI software platform, including software license, AI software and hardware integrated products and corresponding services. Based on the lowest artificial intelligence infrastructure SenseCore, it mainly has specific products in four directions, namely, the Ark Enterprise Open platform for Smart Business scenarios, the Ark City Open platform for Smart City, the SenseME, SenseMARS and SenseCare platforms for Smart Life, and SenseAuto (Shang Tang Shadow Intelligent vehicle platform) for smart cars.

The newly disclosed post-hearing data set shows the current number of customers in each major business of Shangtang. In the first half of 2021, its smart business business has 635 customers, smart city business has 119 customers, smart life business has 155 customers, and smart car business has 13 customers, showing an increase over the same period last year.

Overall, the prospectus shows that as of June 30, 2021, the total number of customers of the Shangtang software platform exceeded 2400, including 250 Fortune 500 companies and listed companies, 119 cities and more than 30 automobile companies, enabling more than 450 million mobile phones and more than 200 mobile applications.

From a financial point of view, among the four major business lines, smart business and smart city contribute more revenue, accounting for 30%, 50%, respectively, while smart life and smart car business account for less than 20% of revenue.

From the latest information released by the "four Little Dragons of AI", Shangtang's revenue far exceeds that of the other three, but it is still unable to avoid huge losses.

Overall, the prospectus data show that Shangtang's revenue and gross profit margin increased year by year in 2018. From 2018 to 2020, the revenue of Shangtang was 1.853 billion yuan, 3.026 billion yuan and 3.446 billion yuan respectively, and the revenue in the first half of 2021 was 1.65 billion yuan, with a cumulative income of nearly 10 billion yuan in three and a half years. The gross profit margin was 56.5%, 56.8% and 70.6% respectively, and 73.0% in the first half of 2021.

Affected by the high cost of research and development, its losses continue to expand. From 2018 to 2020 and the first half of 2021, the net losses of Shangtang Technology were 3.432 billion yuan, 4.96 billion yuan, 12.158 billion yuan and 3.712 billion yuan respectively, with a total loss of 24.2 billion yuan. The net adjusted losses were 220 million yuan, 1.037 billion yuan, 878 million yuan and 726 million yuan respectively. From 2018 to 2020 and the first half of 2021, the R & D expenditure is 848 million yuan, 1.916 billion yuan, 2.453 billion yuan and 1.77 billion yuan respectively.

At present, the concept of meta-universe is booming, the market is showing a trend of competition among thousands of troops, and Shangtang science and technology is not willing to lag behind.

The ecological architecture of meta-universe is mainly divided into three parts: the bottom layer is the basic support, which provides elements such as computing, data storage, network, and AI model production support; the middle is the content creation ecology, including data platform and technology engine, and the creation platform of low-code development environment; the upper layer is the content application ecology, including interactive portals, user-accessible distribution channels, and the final application link. Each enterprise carries on the corresponding layout and card position in this ecology according to its own core competence and advantage.

"at the basic level, we have the production capacity of intelligent computing and artificial intelligence algorithms, and the ability of technology engines in the middle. our technology engines are compatible with many interactive devices, and we also have a variety of practical applications in terminals, such as the literature and tourism industry, the industrial field, and so on. Yang Yan, director of strategic ecology at Shangtang Science and Technology Intelligent Industry Research Institute, said at a recent cultural forum.

According to Shangtang, businesses such as SenseME and SenseMARS have made the company one of the largest meta-universe enabling platforms. The SenseMARS software platform contains 3500 artificial intelligence models that support perceptual intelligence and hybrid and augmented reality (MARS) systems, creating a new metamverse experience.

In July, Shangtang Technology reached a strategic cooperation with the three-body Universe (Shanghai) Culture Development Co., Ltd., the copyright owner of the well-known science fiction work "three-body" trilogy, to jointly explore a new model of "AI+ science fiction".

According to the hearing materials, Shangtang plans to continue to develop and promote the commercialization of meta-universe-related services, continue to enhance the functions and capabilities of artificial intelligence, augmented reality and mixed reality on SenseMARS, consolidate the customer base, and establish a more complete R & D ecology, in order to consolidate the company's leading position in the meta-universe field.

Of the IPO fundraising, Shangtang is expected to spend 60 per cent on research and development, 35 per cent on product development and other artificial intelligence technology research, 15 per cent on business development, 15 per cent on emerging business opportunities and increased penetration of products and services in domestic and foreign markets, 15 per cent on potential strategic investments and acquisition opportunities, and 10 per cent on working capital and general purposes.

According to the prospectus, Shangtang has received a total of 12 rounds of investment before IPO, including Softbank Corp., Chunhua, Silver Lake, IDG, Guodiao Fund, Shanghai International Group, Racing and CDH.

According to the prospectus, prior to IPO, Tang Xiaoou, founder of Shangtang Technology, held 21.73%, while co-founder and CEO Xu Li held 0.9%. In addition, Softbank Corp. held 14.88%, Taobao China 7.59%, Chunhua Capital 3.08%, and Silver Lake Capital 3.05%. SenseTalent (Class B shares held by Xu Li, Wang Xiaogang and Xu Bing) holds 12.17%.

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