US-headquartered autonomous driving technology developer Deeproute.ai completed a series B round led by e-commerce group Alibaba yesterday sized at over $300m that also featured diversified conglomerate Fosun.
The round included Jeneration Capital, Glory Ventures and Yunqi Partners, while Fosun invested through corporate venturing arm Fosun RZ Capital. Media reports last month suggested Alibaba provided $200m for the round.
Founded in 2019, Deeproute has developed software and hardware for self-driving vehicles and will use this capital to boost its research and development, grow its team and scale its relationships with automakers.
The company also aims to grow its fleet of robotaxis – which are currently operating in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Wuhan – to more than 150 by the end of this year, with 100 of them under its ownership, and expand the kinds of vehicles involved in the project.
In June this year, Deeproute secured a passenger carry permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, opening the door to the US market.
Fosun RZ Capital had previously led a $50m pre-series A round for the company in September 2019 that also featured GSR Capital, Green Pine Capital Partners, Yunqi Partners and Ventech China.
Deeproute CEO Maxwell Zhou said: “We appreciate our forward-looking investors for their support. Our DeepRoute.ai team is excited to bring more robotaxis to the streets and expand to urban logistics. We are excited for the future of autonomous vehicles and the positive societal impact we will have.”
