China-based autonomous driving startup Pony.ai added $102m to a series A round featuring mass media group Comcast, today, increasing it to $214m.
Eight Roads, a subsidiary of financial services and investment group Fidelity, co-led the second tranche with private equity firm ClearVue Partners. It valued the company at close to $1bn post-money, according to TechCrunch.
Green Pine Capital Partners, China Merchants Capital, Redpoint Ventures China, Delong Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Morningside Ventures, DCM Ventures, Hongtai Capital and angel investor Adrian Cheng also participated.
Founded in 2016, Pony.ai is developing software that will enable vehicles to use sensors to accurately map its surrounding environment so they can predict movements and steer effectively.
Morningside and Legend Capital, the venture capital firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, co-led the round’s $112m first tranche, which Pony.ai closed in January this year.
Comcast unit Comcast Ventures also took part in the first close, as did Sequoia China, Legend subsidiary Legend Star, Hongtai Capital, DCM Ventures, IDG Capital, Puhua Capital, Polaris Capital and Silicon Valley Future Capital.
The company began offering autonomously-directed rides to customers through a pilot scheme in the Chinese city of Guangzhou in February this year, and the latest funding will fuel the commercialisation of its technology and the expansion of its autonomous fleet.
James Peng, chief executive of Pony.ai, said: “We are very honoured to welcome our new investors to the team and to continue partnering closely with our existing investors.
“I truly believe the next major challenge for autonomous cars will be small and medium scale deployment – this is an absolutely critical step to validating the system’s overall stability and reliability. We are grateful for the new and continued support in helping us to achieve this future.”
Pony.ai’s initial funding came through a seed round led by Sequoia China and backed by IDG Capital, though the company has not disclosed details of that round.
– Photo courtesy of Pony.ai.