China autonomous driving developer CalmCar raises $150m
CalmCar, a China-based provider of self-driving solutions, has closed a $150 million Series C round led by German auto parts supplier ZF Group. The company is targeting an IPO in 2022.
Other participants include Dragon Stone Capital, Hong Kong-listed OCI International Holdings, Vietnam-based automotive start-up manufacturer VinFast, Great Filter Venture, and Unicom Capital.
The new capital will support the expansion of production capacity for level-two to level-four (L2-L4) high- and low-speed automatic driving system hardware and software. CalmCar supplies existing car manufacturers rather than develop its own vehicles. Mass production of vehicles featuring its systems will begin in 2022.
Level-two and level-three autonomy are defined as partial or conditional automation with the driver able to override at any time. At L4, the car is fully autonomous in certain environments, but it still needs a driver in the seat.
CalmCar is also building a technical center in Shanghai, expanding its talent pool, and strengthening its R&D capabilities.
The company raised RMB30 million in Series A funding in 2018. This was followed by a RMB100 million extension in 2019 and a RMB100 million Series B last year, according to AVCJ Research's records.
Within China's autonomous driving space, Pony.ai and WeRide are regarded as the Chinese equivalents to Google-owned Waymo in autonomous driving in that they operate their own fleets. They face a concerted challenge from local ride-hailing platform Didi.
All three have closed funding rounds this year. Pony.ai secured a $100 million Series C extension – which took the overall round to $367 million – last month, a matter of weeks after WeRide announced it had closed a $310 million Series B. Meanwhile, Didi’s autonomous driving unit received $300 million in funding.
There are also numerous competitors to CalmCar that provide autonomous driving services or algorithms. They include Momenta, which recently raised $500 million in Series C funding.
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