US-based autonomous driving software startup Pony.ai completed a $112m series A round yesterday that included Comcast Ventures, the corporate venture capital vehicle for mass media group Comcast.
Legend Capital, the VC firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, co-led the round with VC firm Morningside Venture Capital, and was joined by Legend unit Legend Star, IDG Capital, Hongtai Capital, Puhua Capital, Polaris Capital, DCM Ventures, Silicon Valley Future Capital and unnamed additional backers.
Pony.ai is developing what is known as level four autonomous driving software, which would enable vehicles to perform effectively over a full trip that encompasses urban and suburban surroundings as well as difficult weather.
The company was founded in late 2016 by James Peng, who oversaw China-based internet company Baidu’s autonomous driving technology as its chief architect, and Tiancheng Lou, who worked on the technology at Baidu and US-based internet technology group Alphabet.
Pony.ai has been testing the technology on the roads of the Bay Area of California, and expanded the process to the Chinese city of Guangzhou last month, having opened an office there in October 2017.
Wenji Jin, Legend Capital’s managing director, said: “This market’s enormous potential makes its development opportunities and directions similarly vast.
“Pony.ai is one of the very few companies we have seen that possesses the critical success factors: a team with a proven track record and extremely well-rounded technical expertise from both research and industry backgrounds.
“From product definition and systems integration to artificial intelligence, Pony.ai is the leader in this nascent industry. I believe Pony.ai holds the most promise in delivering L4 technology to the mass market.”
The company has not revealed details of its seed round, but said in a statement it was led by Sequoia China and included IDG Capital.