Wang Zhuoran

Wang Zhuoran, Chinese British.CEO of Tricorn (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.

For those who are unfamiliar with Wang Zhuoran, it is hard to to imagine that he is a doctor in computer science returned overseas, and an out-and-out scientist.

He is particular about the emails and uses many traditional and formal written words, payingspecial attention to the preciseness of expression, which may be his "occupational disease". He is also, in a sense, a linguist devoted to making machines read and understand human's expressions and give feedback.

An academic technical talent

As a native of Shenyang City, Wang Zhuoran received his undergraduate courses in the Department of Information Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology. With a wide range of interests, he was keen on computer and programming insenior high school. After graduation in 2005, he decided to study abroad for a Ph.D. He was admitted to the prestigious University College London in Britain, where he majored in machine learning. During the Ph.D. period, Wang Zhuoran developed deep interests in man-machine conversation, and joined one of the few man-machine conversation research teams in the world.

Compared with the strong academic atmosphere of the ivory tower, the outside world is bustling with the tide of business-starting. At the beginning of 2015, Baidu launched a DuerOS program for the purpose of creating an AI robot secretary. During the era when talents were scarce in China, Wang Zhuoran, who had been studying man-machine conversation for a decade, was invited as the technical director of DuerOS center control with a high salary.

Coincident idea

In Baidu, Wang Zhuoran changed his idea about starting a business. Finally, Tricorn was registered in Chaoyang District of Beijing on February 22, 2016. "Personally, I'm very fond of Chaoyang District, where there are CBD and legation quarter, and vibrant business and culture." "Many of our employees once worked with BAT (collectively refers to Baidu, Alibaba, and Tecent)." Wang said.

Chaoyang District warmly welcomes all talents, especially cutting-edge ones. "I have been elected into the  'Phoenix Program' of Chaoyang District. Chaoyang Overseas Talent Center also attaches great importance to high-tech enterprises like us, and often offers us resources, media and opportunities of business matchmaking. The atmosphere here is nice."

In the second monthafter the company was registered, Google Inc.'s AlphaGo was engaged in a man-machine battle with Lee Sedol, a world champion of Weiqi (Go) and professional nine-dan chess player, and won with a score of 4:1, thus making itself known to the world and the field of AI ignited. Then in late April and early May, the Developers Conferences of Google and Facebook, which featured man-machine conversation, was hosted. Man-manchine conversation, once a field unknown only a few years ago, suddenly became a spotlight. All conditions were favorable, and everything was just right.

A running Tricorn

In 2016, a year of capital winter, Tricorn was particularly impressive. Just two months after its establishment, it obtained 10 million yuan in angel round financing from Hongtai Aplus (leading investor) and Skyview Fund (following investor). In August 2016, it completed Pre-A round financing of 20 million yuan from Legeng Capital (leading investor) and SAIF Partners (following investor). In March 2017, it completed  A round financing of 50 million yuan is from Boyong Fund (leading investor), and Hundsun and Seek Dource (following investors). At present, the company has completed B round financing of 110 million yuan from Foxconn (leading investor), and Hanfor, CMIG and Guangju Technology Ventures (Xiamen Torch High-Tech Ventures) (following investors). Three persons have secured 190 million yuan in just two years,  the outstanding achievements should be attributed to excellent technologies.

"But AI is in its infancy now, and is not 'smart' enough." "It is like a child that needs to be taught and guided if you want it to know everything." Technically, Wang Zhuoran knows that they still have a long way to go, and such a target cannot be achieved in just months or years. However, "technological breakthroughs are always delivered by those under pressure. To extend the service application fromnatural language understanding to more fields, to establish interaction habits based on semantics, and to create a machine brain that better understands people, is the vision of Tricorn".

Before starting his own business, Wang Zhuoran had a very simple life, "the only thing you just think about every day is how to do well in technology, and the rest of the time can be spent on many other things". For example, he likes to mix drinks, and he sometimes made a glass of drink for himself when he was free. But it's a luxury to him now, "This is the case for all entrepreneurs, and I'm no exception. For entrepreneurs like me, new species may have emerged before we are aware of it, even as we speak. It seems that the industry is about to upgrade. Time is never linear for us who are in such a technology industry."

"Struggle is an endless process." Wang Zhuoran wrote such words in memory of the second anniversary of Tricorn not long ago. On the path of AI, he will continue to run with Tricorn.