BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime has competed its series C+ funding worth 620 million U.S. dollars, the company announced Thursday.

The new financing is led by investment firms such as Fidelity International and Tiger Global. Qualcomm Ventures and other investment firms and strategic investors also participated.

So far, total financing for SenseTime has exceeded 1.6 billion dollars and its valuation has surpassed 4.5 billion dollars, consolidating its position as the world's largest and most valuable AI unicorn, the company said in a statement.

The funding will facilitate SenseTime's overseas expansion, said co-founder and CEO Xu Li, adding that the company will continue to focus on innovation to become an international AI platform.

Founded in 2014 and known for its facial recognition technology, SenseTime has maintained 400 percent annual growth in business revenue for three years.

The company made a profit in 2017. Its contract revenue in the past five months has increased more than 10 fold year on year.

The company has recently stepped work on smart cities, smartphones, Internet entertainment, automobiles, finance, retail, and other sectors. In April, it reached an agreement with Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, the largest subway operator in China, to deploy AI solutions on the metro.