Chaos leads $100m Series B for China's FreeTech
FreeTech, a developer of assisted driving solutions, has raised nearly USD100m in Series B funding led by Chaos Investment.
Other investors include Hengxu Capital backed by SAIC Motor, BAIC Capital, TCL, Shaanxi Automobile Group, Sun Life-Everbright, and Aopeng Investment.
The company closed a Series A of more than USD100m last year led by China Internet Investment Fund Management with participation from Hui Capital, Zoyi Capital, Bocom International, and Hua Ventures. GSR United Capital led a round of undisclosed size in 2017, according to AVCJ Research.
FreeTech focuses on advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) technology. This is seen as equivalent to L2 autonomous driving where vehicles change lanes, overtake, and park automatically, but a person sits in the driver's seat and can take control at any time.
It has worked on solutions for more than 100 vehicle models across 40 brands, including Hongqi, Dongfeng, BAIC, SAIC, and Geely as well as new energy vehicle marques BYD, Hozon Auto, and Zeekr. More than 1m sets of solutions are set to be mass-produced and delivered in 2022.
China's autonomous driving industry has been rocked by events at TuSimple, which saw founder Xiaodi Hou removed as CEO following the launch of investigations by US regulators into an irregular relationship between the company and China-based Hydron. Hou hit back by teaming up with co-founder Mo Chen to oust the other board members and appoint new ones.
Autonomous truck specialist TuSimple's stock has fallen by two-thirds since the unrest was made public and uncertainty has seeped through the broader industry.
However, ADAS remains a point of strength. Solutions using the technology are already in mass production and it is increasingly seen as a competitive edge. ADAS has moved from being a high-end exclusive feature to a standard must-have with deepening market penetration.
FreeTech was an early mover in autonomous parking, which is supposed to be able to replace valet parking. It has since expanded its solutions to cover high-speed roads and inner-city roads as well. It is one of the few domestic ADAS players to develop in-house production capabilities in cameras, millimetre-wave radar, and domain controllers.
The company claims to use chips with lower computation power than rivals to achieve the same functions for appropriate scenarios. The balance between performance and cost control meets the demands of carmakers. Recent developments include the launch of smart cockpit platform Odin.
Taihe Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for FreeTech's Series B.
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