How a Stanford couple from Taiwan created the island’s first AI unicorn after eight failed attempts
- Softbank-backed Appier went public in Tokyo in March, marking a historic win for the Japanese bourse which has few foreign listings
- Appier represents a new breed of tech firm from Taiwan, which is dominated by chip and hardware giants like TSMC and Foxconn
When computer science major Chih-Han Yu met bio-immunology major Winnie Lee at Stanford University in 2003, they had little inkling they would go on to build Taiwan’s best-known artificial intelligence (AI) company.
Fast forward nearly two decades and Appier, which develops AI-based solutions for precision marketing, has listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after becoming Taiwan’s first digital unicorn in 2020.
These days, Yu and Lee are often lauded as the No 1 power couple in the self-ruled island’s AI scene.
However, the road to success for Appier, backed by venture giants SoftBank Group Corp and Sequoia Capital, has not been without twists and turns.
The start-up, a result of Yu’s last-minute realisation that he did not want to be an academic, switched industries eight times – including trying video games – before striking gold in the niche of marketing technology.
Its decision to list in Tokyo in March this year also made the company a poster child for Japan’s revived ambitions to attract Asian initial public offerings (IPOs).