AAA Black Sesame nears $2bn valuation

Black Sesame nears $2bn valuation

China-based autonomous vehicle chipmaker Black Sesame Technologies announced yesterday it has secured hundreds of millions of dollars this year across two rounds, both of which were led by consumer electronics producer Xiaomi.

Hubei Xiaomi Changjiang Industrial Fund (also known as Hubei Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund) represented Xiaomi in both deals, and it was joined by investors including internet-of-vehicle technology developer FulScience in a strategic round of undisclosed size.

Semiconductor manufacturer Wingtech Technology and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, part of electronics provider Lenovo, participated in the series C round, which included China Automotive Chip Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance, Summitview Capital, FutureX Capital, Oriza Hua and Sunic Capital.

The company was valued at nearly $2bn in the later round and it is in the process of raising series C-plus funding.

Founded in 2016, Black Sesame is developing image processing, perceptron algorithm and system-on-chip technologies intended for use in self-driving vehicles. It has built two AI-equipped intelligent driving semiconductor products and its clients include Robert Bosch, SAIC Motor and BYD.

The company received almost $100m in a series B round in 2019 led by SL Capital, a vehicle formed by conglomerates SK Group and Legend Holdings, the latter through venture capital affiliate Legend Capital.

The series B participants included automotive group SAIC, SK Group’s SK China subsidiary, state-owned logistics provider China Merchants Group’s China Merchants Venture unit, Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC), Delta Capital and Fenghe Group.

Nio Capital, a VC firm launched by electric carmaker Nio, led a series A-plus round for Black Sesame sized at roughly RMB100m ($15.4m) the year before, investing alongside NLVC and SPC, after NLVC had backed a series A round of undisclosed size in 2016.

By Edison Fu

Edison Fu is a reporter and Asia liaison at Global Corporate Venturing.