{"id":1228,"date":"2020-01-16T21:17:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T21:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2020-01-16T21:17:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T21:17:24","slug":"sharkninja-announced-the-strategic-acquisition-of-qfeeltech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/sharkninja-announced-the-strategic-acquisition-of-qfeeltech\/","title":{"rendered":"SharkNinja Announced the Strategic Acquisition of Qfeeltech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WI Harper Group<\/a> | January 10, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On January 9, 2020 (Beijing time), Shark Ninja, a global\nhousehold appliance brand, and JS Global (01691.HK), its parent company,\nofficially announced the strategic merger and acquisition of China’s artificial\nintelligence and robotics startup company “Qfeeltech”. In October\n2016, WI Harper Group led Series A round of financing for Qfeeltech, and\ncontinued to follow Series B round of financing in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQfeeltech is an artificial intelligence and\nrobot technology startup company founded in Beijing in 2014, with\nindustry-leading robot positioning and navigation core technology based on\nindependent intellectual property rights. Through the development of low-cost,\nefficient embedded solutions and its own visual fusion algorithm advantages.\nQfeeltech provides customers with ultra-cost-effective robot product solutions.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Founded in 2014, Qfeeltech is a leading provider of robot\npositioning and navigation technology and solutions. The company is always\ncommitted to expanding the core technology of robot positioning and navigation,\nespecially vSLAM technology, and landing and application in the field of robot.\nIn 2018, Shark Ninja, a globally renowned vacuum cleaner brand, and Qfeeltech entered\ninto an in-depth strategic cooperation on the positioning and navigation\ntechnology of smart home cleaning robot. The “Shark IQ” series of\ncleaning robot products jointly launched by the two companies was launched in\nNorth America in September 2019, achieving sales growth that exceeding\nexpectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Shark Ninja is a leading international home appliance\ngroup based in Boston, and the No.1 vacuum cleaner brand in North\nAmerica,” said Chen Zhen, founder and CEO of Qfeeltech. We are very\npleased to join the Shark Ninja family through the successful cooperation with\nShark Ninja and its parent company JS Global. We also look forward to\nleveraging Shark Ninja as an international platform to build truly world-class\nrobot products through the synergy and continuous innovation of R&D efforts\nin China and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“We are excited about the tremendous growth\npotential that the addition of Qfeeltech will unleash for our company and\nproduct innovation in the coming years. Qfeeltech became Shark Ninja’s core\npartner in 2018, driving the company’s robotics products and business to great\nsuccess in 2019 and laying a clear path for the future strategic development of\nits robotics products and business.” said Shark Ninja CEO and JS Global\nPresident Mark Barrocas.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shark Ninja\u2018s Executive Vice President and Shark Robotics\u2019s Division\nGeneral Manager Mr. Sri Solur stated that “The partnership with Qfeeltech\nhas driven the growth and success of the robotics business. Our partnership\nwill lead to the further development of the business, creating “five-star\nexperience “for our customers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The integration of Qfeeltech and Shark Ninja will complete over\nthe next three years. During this period, Qfeeltech will continue to maintain a\nrelatively independent operation and independent reporting relationship. Chen Zhen,\nthe founder, will continue to serve as the CEO of the company and be\nresponsible for the operation and project management of the Chinese R&D team\nof Shark Ninja robotics division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About Shark Ninja and its controlling\nparent company JS Global<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JS Global is a global leader in quality and innovative small\nhome appliances registered in the Cayman Islands. The group has three\ninternational brands: JiuYang, Shark and Ninja, and continues to maintain a\nleading position in the global small home appliances market. Among them, JiuYang\npenetrates deep into the Chinese market, focusing on high-end kitchen\nappliances. Shark, a brand of small cleaning appliances, and Ninja, a brand of\nsmall kitchen appliances, are gaining traction in the international market. JS\nGlobal was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 18,\n2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shark Ninja is a global innovative cleaning and kitchen home\nappliance company founded in 1998. The headquarters is located in Boston and the\ncompany has offices in London, Shenzhen, and Suzhou. The Shark brand is  the No.1 brand of vacuum cleaner and cleaning\nappliances in North America. Shark products include the Original Steam Mop,\nRotator vacuum series, R series including cordless stick vacuum, cordless\nfoldable vacuum S1 \u2013 S9 series, exclusive villa vacuum series A, and innovative\nproducts such as steam mop and other household cleaning products. In September\n2019, the company launched the Shark IQ series of advanced navigation cleaning\nrobot products in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About <\/strong>Qfeeltech<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Qfeeltech\nfocuses on the robot positioning and navigation technology R&D and product\npracticality. Key executives include founder Mr. Chen Zhen, co-founder Mr. Zhang\nYiming, Chief Operating Officer Ms. Wu Xin, Chief Scientist Dr. Wu Minsheng,\nand Chief Architect  Dr. Liu Zhanglin.\nThe company has launched series L of consumer embedded positioning and\nnavigation module, series Q of industrial positioning and navigation controller\nand other core software and hardware products with independent intellectual\nproperty rights. After more than five years of rapid development, the company\nhas about 70 employees, 80% being R&D personnel. The total R&D\ninvestment made was about RMB 90 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs of December 2019, the company has applied for\n45 Chinese intellectual property patents, of which 15 were approved, and has\ncompleted based on the core of robot technology international PCT patent and\nthe United States patent applications.  The company has applied the most  number of  patents in the field of navigation and\npositioning.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In\n2017 the company became China\u2019s high-tech enterprises, the first frontier\nZhongGuanCun technology enterprise, and a key enterprise followed by the ZhongGuanCun\nscience city. The company was also awarded China\u2019s most valuable company, the\nhighest growth in value and star startup in the AI industry in a various\nmainstream media and research institutions at home and abroad. The company is also\nIntel’s designated suppliers and partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Translated from: https:\/\/mp.weixin.qq.com\/s\/BJeYGqykdfzrvS6AyTbmew<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WI Harper Group | January 10, 2020 On January 9, 2020 ( […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}