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. — SCMP

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.