Saudi fund invests $100m in China's Pony.ai
Saudi Arabia’s Neom Investment Fund, a strategic venture vehicle for the planned smart city of Neom, has made a USD 100m commitment to Chinese autonomous driving player Pony.ai.
“[T]his major regional expansion for Pony.ai is a milestone for our global aspirations and our vision of ‘autonomous mobility everywhere’ and will advance the development of the global AV [autonomous vehicle] industry into a new stage,” Pony CEO James Peng said in a statement.
Pony, a spinout from Baidu best known for its robotaxi pilot programmes in the US and China, was valued at USD 8.5bn last year when it raised an undisclosed sum in Series D funding from unidentified investors. Total funding since the company’s establishment in 2016 tops USD 1bn.
The plan is to establish a joint venture to manufacture autonomous cars and smart vehicle infrastructure for Neom, an urban megaproject on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia’s northwest. Pony will establish in-country manufacturing headquarters and an R&D facility. There are longer-term plans to service the broader Middle East.
Neom is planned as a zero-emission, connected technology hub and lab for smart city concepts such as autonomous mobility and aims to develop a multi-modal sustainable transport system, powered by 100% renewable energy. It is being built from the ground up to eliminate challenges around existing infrastructure.
Pony was the first Chinese autonomous driving technology supplier to operate fully driverless vehicles in both Beijing and Guangzhou. It is licensed to operate fully driverless vehicles in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
The company raised USD 267m in Series C funding in November 2020, with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) taking the lead. The reported post-money valuation was USD 5.3bn. Three months later, it closed a Series C extension of USD 100m featuring new investors Brunei Investment Agency and CITIC Private Equity.
Toyota Motor Corporation led a USD 462m round in 2020. This was touted as the largest single investment made in a Chinese autonomous driving company until Didi Chuxing surpassed it by raising USD 500m for its self-driving car unit.
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