Self-driving startup Pony.ai seeks up to US$195 million in US IPO
PONY.AI is looking to raise as much as US$195 million from its US initial public offering (IPO) as automotive-related companies lead a modest pickup in Chinese listings.
The autonomous driving startup set a price range of US$11 to US$13 for its American depositary shares, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday (Nov 14). The top of the price range implies a market value for the company of about US$4.5 billion, based on the filing.
Investment Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of Beijing Automotive Group, and ComfortDelGro Ventures indicated an interest in purchasing up to roughly US$75 million worth of the offering. Guangzhou Automobile Group, a top Chinese automaker and backer of another self-driving car company, WeRide, is among the investors that struck a deal to buy about US$153 million worth of shares from the company in a concurrent deal, the filing showed.
Pony.ai had considered selling shares in the US in 2021 but put that plan on hold, Bloomberg News reported at the time.
About US$40 billion has been raised via IPOs on US exchanges this year, a roughly 60 per cent jump from same period in 2023 but still below the average in the decade before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The two biggest Chinese listings in the US this year have been WeRide and Zeekr Intelligent Technology, the data showed.
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2016, Pony.ai develops and operates self-driving fleets in the US and China. Its vehicles include trucks and robotaxis. In December, it received a permit to provide fare-charging, fully driverless taxi services in Guangzhou.
Pony.ai’s backers include Toyota Motor and Saudi Arabia’s Neom. China’s securities regulator approved the New York IPO in April as Beijing loosened its clampdown on domestic tech companies trying to list overseas. BLOOMBERG
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