China-based autonomous driving technology developer Momenta has secured $46m in a series B round led by Nio Capital, an investment subsidiary of electric vehicle developer Nio, China Money Network reported today.
Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China and hedge fund Hillhouse Capital co-led the round, which included carmaker Daimler, VC firms Shunwei Capital and Sinovation Ventures, and early-stage investment fund Unity Ventures.
Founded in September 2016, Momenta is working on digital mapping, artificial intelligence and machine vision technology that would be used by autonomous vehicles to identify and recognise pedestrians, other cars, obstacles or road signs.
The series B capital will be used to further develop Momenta’s AI and big data technology, and to commercialise its digital map systems.
Nio made its investment, the first to be disclosed by Nio Capital, after unveiling a concept autonomous electric car called the Nio Eve in March this year. It plans to begin producing autonomous cars commercially by 2020.
Sinovation Ventures had previously joined VC firm Blue Lake Capital and seed-stage VC fund Zhen Fund for Momenta’s $5m series A round in November 2016, before Shunwei added an undisclosed amount of series A-1 funding earlier this year.