Pony AI, a China-based developer of autonomous vehicle systems for robotaxis and robotrucks, filed on Thursday with the SEC for an initial public offering. The company filed with a placeholder deal size; we estimate the IPO could to raise up to $300 million.
Through partnerships with leading OEMs, including Toyota, GAC, and SAIC, Pony AI aims to mass produce autonomous driving technology used in robotaxis, robotrucks and other applications. It currently operates a fleet of over 250 robotaxis, which have been licensed to operate without a driver in all four Tier-1 cities in China, and 190 robotrucks. To date, it has generated a majority of its revenue from licensing its technology (54% of 2023 revenue; e.g. proprietary vehicle domain controller products, data analytics tools) to OEMs, and providing robotruck logistics services (35%), but expects its robotaxi services (11%), which include AV software deployment and maintenance, vehicle integration and engineering and road testing, and to a lessor extent passenger rides, to become a larger portion of revenue in the future.
The Guangzhou, China-based company was founded in 2016 and booked $84 million in sales for the 12 months ended June 30, 2024. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol PONY. Pony AI filed confidentially on March 27, 2023. Goldman Sachs (Asia), BofA Securities, Deutsche Bank, Huatai Securities, and Tiger Brokers are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.
