Chinese Self-Driving Truck Startup Secures $188 Million In Funding From Sequoia China And Legend Capital

Autonomous driving truck startup Inceptio Technology has raised a $188 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital China and Legend Capital, the investment arm of Lenovo’s parent company.

Other major investors include Hong Kong billionaire Henry Cheng and his family’s Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, Chinese food delivery giant Meituan, Fidelity-backed Eight Roads and Chinese electric vehicle billionaire William Li’s NIO Capital.

Based in Shanghai, Inceptio was founded in 2018 by Julian Ma, a former corporate vice president at Tencent. The startup collaborated with domestic original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, to develop China’s first driverless heavy-duty trucks, which are used for freight routes across the country.

Inceptio said the fresh capital will go towards mass-producing driverless trucks, converting these vehicles from running on gas to electricity, and developing its proprietary full-stack autonomous driving system, Xuanyuan–named after an emperor who invented vehicles in ancient China.

“Autonomous driving technology will introduce a groundbreaking upgrade to the freight industry,” said Ma, who serves as CEO, in a statement about Xuanyuan’s launch. “We will stick to full-stack independent development and stay mass-production-driven in the Xuanyuan system and resolutely follow the progressive technical development approach.” 

Inceptio previously raised $270 million in August led by JD Logistics, Meituan and Asia-focused investment firm PAG. Chinese battery giant CATL, Singaporean investment firm GLP and IDG Capital also participated in the funding round.

Over the past few years, autonomous driving in China has gained speed. In December, Alibaba-backed autonomous driving startup AutoX launched China’s first driverless robotaxis in Shenzhen. A month later, Chinese internet giant Baidu confirmed its plans to produce electric vehicles in a partnership with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, building on investments for a “portfolio of world-class self-driving services.”

Considerable government backing has played a role in the growth of China’s autonomous driving. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology rolled out guidelines for autonomous vehicles last April, encouraging local governments to open highways and roads for testing self-driving cars.