Chinese robotaxi company known as WeRide can now be seen as an impressive unicorn that was able to raise over $600 in a span of just 5 months! Can this company be considered a potential threat to Tesla in China?
China Driverless Car Investment
It's quite hard to keep an eye on different fundraising sprees in China's fast paced autonomous driving industry lately. The Guangzhou as well as California-based robotaxi company known as WeRide, however, stood out amongst the rest.
According to an article by TechCrunch, the company counts Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance as one of its most strategic investors as of the moment. They have been able to raise over $600 million in a span of just a little under five months from its early Series B and C financing rounds.
WeRide $3.3 Billion Valuation
The four-year-old startup noted in May that its whole valuation has led to a whopping $3.3 billion in its recent Series C fundraising. WeRide has also been able to keep details of the whole backing privy until just today when it suddenly disclosed the whole investment with a significant sum of a whopping $310 million coming from Alliance Ventures.
Alliance Ventures is a strategic venture capital fund that is operated by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, the China Structural Reform Fund, and even a Chinese state-owned private equity fund. Alliance Ventures also includes Pro Capital which manages China's official CDB Equipment Manufacturing Funds.
WeRide Level 4 Driving Vehicles
As of the moment, it is still a bit unclear as to how much WeRide has been able to raise ever since its inception as some of its own investments remain undisclosed. It was able to pull off tens of millions from its initial Series A round, according to a post by WeRide. This is the exact second time that Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi has decided to shell out money for WeRide following what happened during its initial strategic investment way back in 2018.
The next follow-up funding started to come as the two different companies started strengthening their ties to be able to develop Level 4 driving vehicles aimed at the Chinese market. Electric cars coming from Dongfeng-Nissan joint venture, equipped with WeRide software, have been able to provide robotaxi service in Guangzhou for the last 18 months.
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WeRide Nissan Partnership
WeRide reportedly used Nissan vehicles in California to conduct its research and development. Nissan COO, Ashwani Gupta, noted in an assuring statement about the partnership that as China currently stands at the forefront when it comes to helping define the entire future of mobility, they are reportedly happy to partner along with WeRide to be able to bring additional innovative technologies and services to help make people's lives better.
We Ride also noted in a statement that along with the continued support coming from Nissan, they will be able to accelerate the general commercial use of their much awaited driverless robotaxis in China.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
