GAC has returned to lead the Tencent and Guangzhou Public Transport-backed automated taxi developer’s latest round, which included WeRide and Pony.ai.

China-based automated ride hailing service Ruqi Mobility raised RMB1bn ($153m) on Tuesday in a series A round led by automotive manufacturer GAC Group. Autonomous driving software producers WeRide and Pony.ai also took part in the round, as did Sparx Group, Pilgrim Partners Asia, Guangzhou Industrial Investment, Capital Operation Holding Group and Guangzhou Gongkong Capital Management. Founded in 2019 and also known as Ontime Mobility, Ruqi has developing a driverless vehicle technology platform and is in the process of commercialising its robo-taxis. GAC Group is its majority shareholder and internet group Tencent has the second largest stake. Ruqi will use the funding to build and test drive more than 200 automated taxis this year, strengthen its connected vehicle fleet and improve a range of mobility services that include autonomous driving software, data and car maintenance. The company launched in 2019 with $145m in funding from GAC, Tencent and public mobility services provider Guangzhou Public Transport, with the investors taking 35%, 25% and 10% stakes respectively. Unnamed others held a combined 20% while 10% was earmarked for employee equity incentives, according to 36Kr. Ruqi CEO Jiang Hua said: “Previously, the industry focused on improving the system’s algorithm capabilities and vehicle hardware, but as the technology development progressed the focus has shifted to autonomous driving operations. “As a result, two world-leading autonomous driving technology groups have decided to make strategic investments in Ruqi Mobility at the same time in this round.” (Translated from Chinese by Global Corporate Venturing) Photo courtesy of Guangzhou Qichen Technology Co, Ltd.

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Edison Fu

Edison Fu is a reporter and Asia liaison at Global Corporate Venturing.