Pony AI, a China-based developer of autonomous vehicle systems for robotaxis and robotrucks, raised $260 million by offering 20 million ADSs at $13, the high end of the range of $11 to $13. New investors had indicated on $75 million worth of ADSs in the offering (29% of the deal), and the company had planned to raise an additional $153 million in a concurrent private placement.
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 (e.g. proprietary vehicle domain controller products, data analytics tools) to OEMs, and providing robotruck logistics services, but expects its robotaxi services, which include AV software deployment and maintenance, vehicle integration and engineering and road testing, and to a lesser extent passenger rides, to become a larger portion of revenue in the future.
Pony AI plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol PONY. Goldman Sachs (Asia), BofA Securities, Deutsche Bank, Huatai Securities, and Tiger Brokers acted as joint bookrunners on the deal.
