China's WeRide closes Series C, hits $3.3b valuation

IDG Capital, Homeric Capital, CoStone Capital, Cypress Star, Sky9 Capital, and K3 Ventures are among the new investors in the round. Existing backers CMC Group, Qiming Venture Partners, and Alpview Capital re-upped, according to a statement.

WeRide started commercial operation in 2019 and was the first autonomous company in China to offer robotaxi services with level-four (L4) autonomy - the car is fully autonomous in certain environments, but still needs a driver in the seat – to the public. 

Working with Baiyun Taxi Group, the largest taxi company in southern China, and Science City Group (SCG), the service operates across 144 square kilometers of Guangzhou’s Huangpu District. A total of 147,128 trips with more than 60,000 passengers were completed during the first year. 

The company's most recent breakthroughs involve mini robobuses, which have begun road tests in Guangzhou and Nanjing. Its project partner is electric bus manufacturer Yutong Group, which led the Series B. They are developing a mass-production model with no steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brakes - said to be the first of its kind in China. 

Meanwhile, in February, WeRide became China’s first autonomous driving company to secure a license for car-hailing operations. Last month, regulators in California issued a permit for WeRide to test its driverless vehicles on public roads in San Jose.

Industry participants are bullish about the prospects for autonomous driving in China versus the US. First, the government is investing in necessary infrastructure. Second, Chinese people seem to be open-minded about the new technology, as evidenced by excess demand during the first month of WeRide's robotaxi pilot scheme in Guangzhou.

Third, difficult driving conditions make road tests more efficient, with Li Zhang, COO of WeRide, told AVCJ last year that China’s roads are 30 times harder to navigate than US highways. Vehicles encounter more incidents during tests, which means there’s more data for the algorithms to work from, and this leads to better technology.

WeRide’s major domestic competitor, Pony.ai, is also well-funded. Last November, the company received $267 million in Series C funding at a post-money valuation of $5.3 billion. A $100 million extension closed in February, taking total funding to $1.1 billion. Like WeRide, Pony was a spinout from Baidu and it is a local leader in L4 technology, running robotaxi pilots in China and the US.

They face a concerted challenge from newcomer Didi, a local ride-hailing platform that secured $300 million in funding for its autonomous driving unit earlier this year. 

There have also been significant developments for Chinese companies specializing in autonomous driving technology for trucks. TuSimple raised $1.35 billion through a traditional IPO in April and Plus has agreed to merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) at a valuation of $3.3 billion.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
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• China
• automobiles
• IDG capital
• Sky9 Capital
• China Media Capital
• Qiming Venture Partners