According to the incomplete statistics of Tianyancha, as of mid-September, there were more than 70 self-driving related enterprises with financing information in China, and the financing amount was as high as tens of billions of yuan. In the third quarter alone, 65,438+06 domestic enterprises related to car networking and autonomous driving received new investment. If foreign companies are added, * * * will exceed 30, covering the overall solutions in hot areas such as autonomous driving, sensors and chips. ?
The development of intelligent driving is getting better and better, and there are more and more enterprises carrying out B and C rounds of financing?
Judging from the financing rounds, although many enterprises still stay in the A round, many enterprises have carried out the B and C rounds of financing. This fully shows that after the precipitation in previous years, the "strength faction" in the field of intelligent driving is gradually emerging.
For example, in mid-September, Zhixing announced the completion of hundreds of millions of RMB C+ financing, which was invested by Ding Xin Capital, Huaxia Weiming and other institutions, and will be used to strengthen Zhixing's technological advantages in driverless products and accelerate the development of passenger cars. With the establishment of the L4-class self-driving fleet, the landing operation projects of robotaxi in different scenes have been launched one after another, and the rapid mass production landing in the field of special vehicles has been realized. In addition, this fund will also be used for the recruitment of top unmanned talents and the expansion of overseas markets. ?
Zhongan Tianchi, a provider of automotive intelligent safety technology, also entered the C round of financing. In mid-August, Zhongtian Anchi announced that the company had obtained the SBI China Fund 1 100 million RMB Series C financing. This round of financing will be used for the research and development of visual technologies such as ADAS and DMS, AIoT (Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things) products and software platforms, to tap the segmentation needs of commercial vehicles and improve the landing service capability. ?
Among the enterprises in the A round of financing process, Xinchi Technology's performance is more eye-catching, and the financing amount is as high as 500 million yuan, which can be described as a "dark horse" in the field of automotive chips. In the future, Xinchi Technology will focus on X9, G9 and V9, and increase investment in software, application and ecology to help customers achieve mass production. At the same time, it will speed up the research and development of new product series and expand the layout in new energy vehicles, autonomous driving, C-V2X and other fields.
In addition, in the third quarter, Heduo Technology also completed the A+ round of financing jointly led by Yuanxing Hanyu Fund and Chaos Investment, with the participation of Heduo's old shareholders IDG and Siweituxin. The epidemic in the first half of the year pressed the pause button for the automobile industry, but the whole development process of Heduo Technology did not stop. On the basis of promoting the mass production of the original products HoloPilot and HoloParking, Heduo Technology further enriches the product forms, improves the modular service based on the high-precision positioning product HoloPolaris, and better meets the needs of the OEM. In addition, in terms of business model, engineering, technology and quality, Heduo Technology also welcomed new key team members this year, especially Huang Lei, former vice president of Bosch China, as senior vice president of global business cooperation. The growth of the team has further helped Heduo Technology to turn technology into practical products and accelerated the commercialization process of the company. ?
Start-ups are favored by the capital market. Although there was no single round of large capital inflow of billions of yuan in the industry in the third quarter, the amount of financing was not small, and the phenomenon of continuous investment by old shareholders frequently appeared. It can be seen that the capital market is still enthusiastic about investing in autonomous driving. However, a round of financing can only solve the temporary needs, and subsequent start-ups need to continuously improve their product strength and profitability in order to gain recognition from more investors. ?
Under the capital-intensive entry, autonomous driving solution providers are the most sought after?
As far as investment is concerned, autonomous driving in the third quarter is still the focus of capital attention, especially the overall solution providers, such as driverless truck companies such as Tucson Future and Xidi Zhijia, sensor companies such as Tan Wei Technology, Aoshuo and Zhixing Technology, and chip developers such as Xinchi Technology. In the field of car networking, Junlian Star, a supplier of smart car networking system under Tabor and Sheng Jun Electronics, has attracted more attention. ?
Since the second half of the year, Tucson has continuously launched new actions in the future, embracing the US self-driving truck transportation industry with a market value of 800 billion US dollars. On July 15, the company announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with Navistar, an American truck manufacturer, and won the latter's investment. * * * Together with R&D, it will strive to realize the mass production of L4 driverless trucks in 2024. Recently, the company also signed a cooperation agreement with Traton, the heavy truck division of Volkswagen, on the research and development of self-driving trucks. Steve, former vice chairman of GM and new chairman of Nikolai? Girsky is also negotiating with Tucson about the future of investment.
Ouster, a manufacturer of lidar sensors, has also developed rapidly recently, raising another $42 million in its B round of financing, with a total financing amount of $654.38+$40 million. This shows that the capital market continues to be optimistic about the core technology of lidar. Especially for enterprises with high comprehensive strength and relatively good prospects for mass production in the short term, investors are more confident. ?
In the field of car networking, Junlian Zhixing completed a total financing of about 720 million yuan in the third quarter. With more than 20 years of supporting experience, the company is the core supplier of information and entertainment systems supporting the Volkswagen MQB platform in the European market, and it is also a rare enterprise in China that can undertake the platform orders of top international car companies. The V2X vehicle-mounted unit product developed by the company integrates the functions of high-precision positioning map and high-precision camera. Through cooperative communication, vehicles can realize safe and effective perception, which may be helpful for early warning and escape in the future. It is estimated that in 20021year, Junlian Zhixing is expected to realize the world's first 5G-V2X mass production project. This financing is the first time that Junlian Zhixing publicly announced financing, which won 720 million yuan in one fell swoop, fully demonstrating the strong confidence of capital in the field of car networking. This investment is also expected to drive more capital into the car networking industry and continuously enhance the international influence of China car networking brands. ?
In addition, it is particularly worth mentioning that Tongyu Automobile. Tongyu Automobile focuses on the research, development and industrialization of "the key technology of the next generation of wire-controlled chassis". Relying on the strong scientific research strength of Tongji University and the abundant industrial resources of Wan 'an Technology, Tongyu Automobile has rapidly grown into one of the cutting-edge enterprises in the field of intelligent driving and key parts of new energy vehicles in China. As a rare enterprise focusing on the executive level in the field of autonomous driving in China, it also obtained strategic investments from Wan 'an Investment and Tongchuang Investment in the third quarter. ?
Traditional car companies accelerate investment and want to seize the autonomous driving market?
Deloitte believes that it is difficult for traditional vehicle companies to transform into an automotive technology company with software research and development capabilities as its core. Whether it is a traditional vehicle enterprise or a high-tech company, it is difficult to independently support all the technologies of autonomous driving design. Only through cooperation can we fill the shortcomings of both sides in their respective fields and achieve a win-win situation. ?
For example, BMW, for the future car to adopt 5G network, its venture capital department BMW? Me? Venture capital companies invested in GenXComm, a 5G technology provider, in advance to lay the foundation for 5G networked self-driving cars. BMW said that GenXComm is committed to improving the throughput and performance of the 5G communication network, and this investment will help accelerate the deployment of cars with strong 5G network connections around the world. GenXComm's photonic technology can also reduce the implementation cost of 5G networks by as much as 80%, saving billions of dollars for 5G suppliers. ?
It is understood that since 20 17 invested in the autopilot company Nauto, BMW? Me? Ventures has repeatedly bet on companies in the field of autonomous driving. The investment is already BMW? Me? Venture capital? The fourth investment in the field of autonomous driving in 2020, the organization also participated in investing in Alitheon and DSP in the first half of the year? Concept, here? Maps involve machine vision software, audio algorithms, high-precision digital maps and other fields.
Volvo is also accelerating its progress in data traceability. At present, the company's battery supply chain has widely adopted Circulor's blockchain technology, which can 100% support Volvo's first pure electric vehicle XC40? Recharge? Traceability of cobalt used in P8 model. In order to expand its business focus beyond cobalt, Volvo recently passed its venture capital department Volvo? Cars? Technology? Funds invested in circular economy. Subsequently, the two sides will study how to improve the traceability of mica materials and cooperate in tracking and reducing the carbon dioxide footprint.
In the post-epidemic era, under the demand of seizing the commanding heights of the industry, new game rules and competitive ecology in the field of autonomous driving are taking shape. BMW and Volvo set up venture capital departments to support start-up technology enterprises and provide them with strategic investment and global market access. In this case, its frequent shots show us the attitude of traditional car companies to actively embrace the market and their ambition to share emerging markets. For the entire autonomous driving market, making a big cake and becoming stronger is the most important thing at the moment.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.