BEIJING (PingWest) — Chinese search giant Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), announced Wednesday that its Smart Living Group ("SLG") has entered into definitive agreements with CPE, Baidu Capital and IDG Capital for Series A financing at a post-money valuation of approximately RMB20 billion ($2.9 billion). SLG operates DuerOS voice assistant and DuerOS-powered smart devices.
The Transaction is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020. Upon the completion of the Transaction, After the funding, Baidu still has controlling interests of SLG. The search giant will hold super voting rights in SLG and is expected to continue to consolidate the financial results of SLG, as a majority shareholder.
"We are pleased to see the rapid growth of SLG since inception in 2017, to become a leading player in China (and globally) in the fast growing voice assistant and smart devices market by leveraging Baidu's AI capabilities, " said Robin Li, Chairman and CEO of Baidu. "This transaction marks another milestone for Baidu to incubate new businesses with its leading technologies and strong synergies from Baidu Core, to capture large market opportunities. "