SHANGHAI, Feb. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Shanghai-based private equity firm ClearVue Partners today announces that its portfolio company Pony.ai, a leading autonomous driving company in China and the US, has completed Series B round funding of USD 462 million and puts Pony.ai’s valuation at just over USD 3 billion. ClearVue led the last round of financing for Pony.ai, which raised a total of USD 214 million.
In the new round of funding, Pony.ai has raised USD 400 million from Toyota Motor Corporation to further advance the two companies’ joint efforts in autonomous driving technology development and mobility service deployment.
Founded in 2016, Pony.ai is the frontrunner in the Chinese autonomous driving sector. It currently operates a fleet of over 100 self-driving vehicles in China and the US. Its mission is to revolutionize the future of transportation by building the safest and most reliable solutions for autonomous mobility. Pony.ai was the first to launch an autonomous ride-hailing service in China, PonyPilot, in February 2018 and has since then grown exponentially, operating over 70 thousand rides over the past two years.
Among its latest developments, Pony.ai has agreed to collaborate with Toyota to explore how to develop safe mobility services further, and has partnered with Hyundai to launch BotRide, a shared, on-demand, autonomous vehicle service operating on public roads in California. The firm has also branched into autonomous trucks, having created L4/L5 technology for trucking applications and completed a full system retrofit in four months. The firm has started testing the trucks on public roads.
James Peng, CEO of Pony.ai, said, “We are very honored to welcome our new investors to the team and to continue partnering closely with our existing investors. I believe the primary focus for autonomous cars is the practical application of technology and put into reality in a wider scale. We are grateful for the new and continued support in helping us to achieve this goal.”
Harry C. Hui, Founding Managing Partner of ClearVue Partners, commented, “Pony.ai has gone from strength to strength, proving itself as a pioneer in autonomous vehicles technology and showcasing how the technology can transform lives and industries for the better. This latest funding round reaffirms the investors’ confidence in Pony.ai’s team and business direction. We look forward to continuing to draw upon our shared experience in corporate governance and fundraising for early-stage start-ups to help the team push the boundaries of this exciting sector even further and market it to a wider audience.
About ClearVue Partners
ClearVue Partners is a private equity fund focused on investments in the fast growing and dynamic consumer sector in the Greater China region, primarily in the food and beverage, consumer lifestyle, and consumer internet/mobile sub-sectors. ClearVue Partners targets early growth and growth stage investments in promising local companies, develops top-tier brands and businesses and enables market entry for leading international companies into China. The ClearVue Partners team has a unique combination of investment, consulting and senior operations experience from the US, Asia and Greater China, with an advisory group of recognized business pioneers in the consumer industry. For more information, please visit www.cvpcap.com
About Pony.ai
Founded in late 2016, Pony.ai aims to build the safest and most reliable self-driving solution and deliver it at a global scale. Pony.ai’s fully self-developed software algorithms and infrastructure enables a vehicle to accurately perceive its surroundings, predict what others will do, and maneuver itself accordingly. Pony.ai is a privately held company headquartered in China and in the United States.