Baidu Inc.’s former financial-services unit has attracted a $1.9 billion investment from firms including U.S. private-equity giants TPG and the Carlyle Group, giving it fresh ammunition to compete in China’s increasingly crowded financial-services space.
The new firm, Du Xiaoman Financial, spun off from Chinese search giant Baidu as part of a corporate strategy to shed peripheral businesses and focus on a push into artificial intelligence. It has also attracted other investors including Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and...