It looks like Google is opening itself to opportunities in mainland China. Bloomberg reports that the search engine giant has made an investment in a Chinese startup, its first direct one since quitting the country over censorship policies.
Google led the funding round for Mobvoi Inc, whose primary product is a Chinese-language voice-activated search engine. It is to note that Mobvoi has been integral in allowing Google to debut its Moto 360 smartwatch in China back in June by using the startup’s product instead of its own.
TechCrunch said that the funding round is Series C for Mobvoi. Although the startup refused to disclose the amount Google invested, co-founder Yuanyuan Li disclosed that it has made the search engine giant a minority shareholder. Mobvoi also said that it will be using the funds to hire new talent all over the world to refine its software services.
“We value this partnership a lot, and respect Google as an investor, [but it is] still a minority investor and we will focus on what we believe in and in our products. We’re not changing what we’ve planned, but there are definitely more opportunities [that will open up],” Li added.
