(Yicai Global) Nov. 15 -- The venture capital arm of US technology giant Qualcomm Inc. [NASDAQ:QCOM] has invested in nine Chinese companies including bike-sharing giant Beijing Mobike Technology Co., unstaffed convenience store operator Beijing Qingcang Technology Co. and artificial intelligence-related facial recognition Beijing SenseTime Technology Development Co.

The funding will come from Qualcomm's USD150 million strategic venture fund for China, set up in 2014, the company said in a press briefing today.

Qualcomm Ventures has been investing in China since 2003 and manages nearly 40 portfolio companies in the country. Since 2015, the company has extended its investment focus to frontier technologies, focusing on areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and robotics.

Below is a list of the nine companies Qualcomm has invested in:

New investments:

Beijing SenseTime Technology Development Co. is an AI startup focused on innovative computer vision and deep learning technologies. SenseTime is among the first to apply several core AI technologies including facial recognition, image recognition, automated driving, human-computer interaction, medical imaging and AI chips.

It has formed partnerships with over 400 famous enterprises both at home and abroad and is the largest algorithm supplier in China.

Beijing Mobike Technology, founded in January 2015, focuses on the provision of bike-sharing services.

Jiangsu Creatcomm Technology Co. is China's largest provider of wireless video transmission solutions and provides quality services for customers and operators in long-distance wireless broadband video/data transmission.

Shenzhen Kneron Artificial Intelligence Co. was established in San Diego, US in 2014. It has already set up AI companies in Shenzhen and Zhuhai, China. Kneron is committed to providing sophisticated, integrated software and hardware solutions featuring 'cloud + AI + Intelligent Internet of Things (I2oT)' technologies in the field of AI.

Beijing Qingcang Technology Co. is an operator of unstaffed convenience stores. It supplies imported goods to residents in first- and second-tier cities and adopts cutting-edge technologies such as facial recognition, deep learning and radio frequency identification (RFID).

Microduino Inc. focuses on AI-assisted education and provides integrated solutions covering products, courses, faculty and services for schools, institutions and individuals.

Beijing Magic AI Technology Co. is a future-oriented AI firm that combines AI with VR and AR technologies to create intelligent virtual people and to help virtual people keep pace with real people in terms of appearance, sounds, movements and memories via machine learning.

Increased investment

Beijing ACSM Agriculture Consultant and Smart Management Technology Service Co. is a big agricultural data and smart service provider focusing on farm management. It has built China's largest farm management network and provides smart industrial services based on big data for industrial management agencies.

Alo7 is an education-focused tech company that creates quality educational content, products, and services. Some 15 million students in 1,000 educational institutions are using its iPad teaching materials and teaching videos made by foreign teachers.