WeRide secures Series C funding round, boosting the company’s valuation to US$3.3 billion
WeRide, a global leading autonomous driving company, announced on May 13th that it has secured another round of fundraising, totaling hundreds of millions (USD), from IDG Capital, Homeric Capital, CoStone Capital, Cypress Star, Sky9 Capital, and K3 Ventures, etc.
CMC Capital Partners, Qiming Venture Partners and Alpview Capital as existing investors also participated in this round. This comes just four months after its Series B fundraising of US$310 million, with the new round resulting in the company’s valuation at US$3.3 billion.
“WeRide Master Platform (WMP), our core autonomous driving technology solution has helped to accelerate the company’s development. This drives the successful operation of our Robotaxi service in Guangzhou since 2019 and the introduction of the WeRide driverless Mini Robobus, a completely new product category to the autonomous industry. It has been rewarding to see that these remarkable achievements have resulted in investor optimism. With this round of funding, WeRide will continue to invest in R&D and commercialization, with the aim of delivering large-scale autonomous mobility in the coming future.”
—— Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide
Since its US$310 million Series B funding in January, WeRide has achieved a series of notable milestones.
At the end of January, WeRide’s self-driving cars cruised into Guangzhou’s Central Business District (CBD), making it the first autonomous driving company to conduct test drives in the center of a tier 1 city in China.
This was followed by the company’s driverless Mini Robobus making its debut in both Guangzhou and Nanjing to conduct regular road testing.
In early February, WeRide secured an official license for online car-hailing operations, becoming the first autonomous driving company in China to hold such a qualification.
In April, WeRide also obtained a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to conduct driverless testing on public roads in San Jose, making it the first startup ever to hold driverless test permits in both China and the U.S.
With the goal of showcasing progress in driverless technology, WeRide launched a series of videos that document WeRide’s driverless test drives in urban arterial roads, secondary arterial roads, expressways, tunnels, toll stations, highways, and many others. Filmed from multiple angles, the videos are testimony to the company’s leading technology as well as WeRide’s dedication to ensuring self-driving vehicles can navigate different traffic scenarios.
WeRide is now rolling out driverless testing in both China and the U.S., expediting the emergence of next generation of driverless taxis, while also completing final tests for the operation of the company’s Mini Robobuses.
About WeRide
WeRide aims to develop the most advanced autonomous driving technology, which will make our trips safer and more efficient. It has received strategic investment from top-tier global automakers, including Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, and Yutong Group. WeRide is the first startup in the world to hold driverless test permits in both China and the US.
Established in 2017, WeRide is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, and maintains R&D and operation centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Anqing, as well as Silicon Valley in the US. It employs a highly skilled team and has extensive domestic and international experience in R&D, business models and business operations.
WeRide launched the first Robotaxi service, completely open to the public, in November 2019 in Guangzhou, covering an area of 144 square kilometers. Since June 2020, WeRide’s Robotaxi service became available to the public through Amap, a popular ride-hailing mobile app in China with 140 million monthly active users. A total of 147,128 trips were completed with more than 60,000 passengers during the first year of WeRide Robotaxi services.
For more information, please visit the website: www.weride.ai
