Self-driving trucking technology startup Plus added $220 million to a recent capital raise, putting it on track for commercialization of its Level 4 system in China this summer.
The previously announced $200 million raised in February was led by CPE and Guotai Junan International.
The new money is mostly from Chinese and Asian investors. Chinese funds FountainVest Partners and ClearVue Partners co-led the raise.
Participants included Taiwan’s Quanta Computer Inc., along with existing investors SAIC Capital, the venture arm of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., and China’s Google-backed freight-matching platform Full Truck Alliance. Millennium Technology Value Partners and Sequoia also contributed.
‘Important inflection point’
“With the mass production of its autonomous driving system this year, Plus is hitting an important inflection point for the company,” Alex Zhang, FountainVue partner and head of the industrial group at FountainVest, said in a press release.
Plus will use the additional funds to expand its global operations and commercial deployment plans for its driver-in autonomous driving solution called PlusDrive.The company is in the final stages of certifying PlusDrive for commercial operation in China, where it has 5,000 nonbinding preorders.
The PlusDrive-powered automated truck was jointly developed with First Auto Works (FAW), China’s largest heavy-duty truck maker. Pilot programs are underway with large commercial freight operators, including SF Express, one of China’s largest delivery fleets.
“Plus is the only autonomous trucking company to start mass production of its autonomous driving system this year,” said David Liu, Plus CEO and co-founder. “And this investment will help fuel plans to bring our automated trucks to market.”
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