VCs back Chinese mapping technology developer

The company said the investment is worth hundreds of millions in renminbi. Chengwei Capital and Lanting Capital also took part in the investment. The capital will be used for R&D and technology commercialization.

Kuangdeng was founded six months ago by Jun Liu, formerly a vice president of technology at Baidu. It develops high-accuracy mapping services based on crowdsourcing and data analytics. Since inception, the company claims to have achieved some significant progress in terms of optimizing efficiency. For example, it replaces radar technology with vision technology to generate data information as to lower cost.

“Precision mapping is the basic element of autonomous driving. The technology itself is still nascent. Moreover, developers are also facing challenges in terms of localization of the technology in China. We think fast-movers have a competitive advantage,” Yihong Guo, a partner at IDG Capital, said in a statement.

Several autonomous driving-focused software developers have received private funding. Momenta, a Beijing-based start-up that develops road sensors and mapping software, raised $46 million in a round led by NIO Capital. In addition, GIC Private also teamed up with Tencent Holdings and NavInfo – a digital maps and local services provider backed by Tencent – to acquire a majority stake in US-based mapping company Here, with a view to developing local services for the Chinese market.

Separately, Germany’s Robert Bosch last year announced a partnership with AutoNavi – another mapping firm owned by Alibaba Group – NavInfo and Baidu to develop high-precision maps in China.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Early-stage
• Technology
• China
• TMT
• IDG Capital Partners
• Chengwei Ventures Shanghai
• Venture