Automotive manufacturer General Motors (GM) agreed a $300m investment in Momenta, a China-based autonomous driving technology developer yesterday, just six months after the latter closed its its series C round.
Momenta has developed deep-learning software to analyse sensor data in cars in order to facilitate full autonomous driving capabilities, including comprehensive route planning and prediction.
The deal comes after GM announced in June this year it intends to invest $35bn in engineering and capital for electric and autonomous vehicles between 2020 and 2025. Momenta’s technology is expected to eventually be deployed in GM vehicles.
Industrial technology manufacturer Bosch, internet group Tencent and carmakers Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and SAIC Motor took part in the company’s $500m series C round, in March 2021, which was co-led by Temasek and Yunfeng Capital with participation from Cathay Capital, GGV Capital and Shunwei Capital.
Tencent and Nio Capital, the venture capital firm formed by electric vehicle producer Nio, took part in a round of undisclosed size for Momenta in 2018 that valued it at $1bn and which also featured Pagoda Investment, China Merchants Group, CCB International and government funding from the municipalities of Shanghai and Suzhou.
Nio Capital led a $57 series B round for the company featuring Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler, Sinovation Capital, GGV Capital, Shunwei Capital, Unity Ventures and Cathay Capital subsidiary Cathay Innovation that closed in July 2017.
The series B built on an undisclosed amount from Shunwei Capital earlier the same year and $5m in series A funding from Sinovation Ventures, Blue Lake Capital and ZhenFund in 2016.
Julian Blissett, president of GM China, said: “Customers in China are embracing electrification and advanced self-driving technology faster than anywhere else in the world, and the agreement between GM and Momenta will accelerate our deployment of next-generation solutions tailor-made for our consumers in China.”
