(Bloomberg) — Pony.ai Inc. is seeking to raise up to $195 million through its U.S. IPO, as auto-related companies lead a modest rally in Chinese listings.
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The self-driving startup has set a price range of $11 to $13 for its American depositary shares, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. The high end of the price range implies a market value for the company of around $4.5 billion, based on the filing.
Investment Global Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beijing Automotive Group Co., and ComfortDelGro Ventures Pte Ltd. have indicated interest in purchasing approximately $75 million worth of the offering. Guangzhou Automobile Group, one of China’s top automakers and a backer of another self-driving car maker, WeRide Inc., is among investors who have struck a deal to buy about $153 million of shares in the company. company in a concurrent deal, according to the filing.
Pony.ai had considered selling shares in the United States in 2021, but had put that plan on hold, Bloomberg News reported at the time.
About $40 billion has been raised through IPOs on U.S. exchanges this year, an increase of about 60% from the same period in 2023, but still below the average in the decade before the COVID-19 pandemic. Covid-19, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The two largest Chinese listings in the United States this year were WeRide and Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd., data shows.
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2016, Pony.ai develops and operates autonomous fleets in the United States and China. Its vehicles include trucks and robo-taxis. It has permits to provide paid and fully driverless taxi services in Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
Pony.ai’s backers include Toyota Motor Corp. and Saudi Arabia’s Neom Co. China’s securities regulator approved the IPO in New York in April, as Beijing eased its crackdown on domestic technology companies trying to list overseas.
The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. Deutsche Bank AG, Huatai Securities and Tiger Brokers. The Company plans for its depositary shares to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol PONY.
(Updates to add banks in last paragraph. The permit schedule was corrected in an earlier version of this story.)
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