Legend leads round for Chinese self-driving tech specialist
China and US-based autonomous driving technology developer Black Sesame has completed its Series B round of funding, raising around $100 million led by Junhai Chuangxin, an investment vehicle under Legend Capital.
Other participants include SAIC Motor, South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix, the VC arm of China Merchants Group, Delta Capital, and Fenghe Capital. Existing investor Northern Light Venture Capital re-upped.
Founded in 2016, the company has R&D centers in Shanghai and Silicon Valley. It focuses on developing autonomous driving platforms and microchips, which can help the vehicles identify human faces, behaviors, road objects, and the movements of other cars in order to make driving decisions.
The fresh funding will be used to boost production capacity. Meanwhile, Black Sesame has struck partnerships with car makers such as SAIC, FAW Group, BYD, and Nio, which will roll out new vehicles equipped with its technology.
The company raised the first tranche of a Series A round from Northern Light in 2016. A second tranche came two years later, led by Nio Capital and also featuring Northern Light and Beijing Singularity Power Capital.
A number of Chinese autonomous driving technology start-ups have sprung up in recent years amid rising investor confidence in the space. Recent activity includes a $50 million investment by Beijing Kunlun Tech in Pony.ai as well as the completion of the third tranche of a Series A round for AutoX. The latter round was led by state-owned car maker Dongfeng Motor Corporation.
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