Lightspeed, Bosch lead $173m round for China's Hesai
Chinese smart sensor maker Hesai Technology has raised a $173 million Series C round led by Germany’s Bosch Group and existing investor Lightspeed China Partners.
Hesai claims this is the largest ever funding round in the LiDAR industry. LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, uses light to measure the distance of obstacles in autonomous driving.
Other investors include ON Semiconductor, Qiming Venture Partners, Detong Capital and Axiom Asia Private Capital. Lightspeed alone has invested $50 million in the latest round and become Hesai’s largest institutional investor, according to a statement. Prior to the Series C, Hesai raised over $150 million from investors such as Baidu and ZhenFund. Pagoda Investment led the company’s RMB110 million ($16 million) Series A in 2017.
Hesai was founded in Silicon Valley in 2013 but relocated to Shanghai the following year. The company has a staff of 600 and 364 patents. It owns two commercialization centers and two manufacturing centers across China and the US.
The company claims to have realized a net profit for two consecutive years. Customers include Bosch, Lyft, Nuro, and TuSimple. About 60% of products are exported to the US and Europe. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles has confirmed that over 50% of the 65 certificated companies offering autonomous driving solutions are customers of Hesai.
“Hesai has the world’s leading technology research capability, combined with its own advanced manufacturing, its products are adapted by top-tier car manufacturers and autonomous driving companies. China needs hard technology companies with world-class independent research and development capabilities,” Qun Mi, a founding partner at Lightspeed, said in the statement.
Other LiDAR technology companies that have received private equity funding include Australia's Baraja, which raised a $32 million Series A from Sequoia China and Blackbird Ventures; China's RoboSense, which raised $45 million from Alibaba Group and domestic carmaker SAIC Motor Group; and US-based Innovusion, which raised a $30 million Series A led by Eight Ventures China and Nio Capital.
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