Shares of Pony AI rose more than 15% in their market debut on Wednesday, giving the China-based robotaxi company a valuation of $5.25 billion.
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2016, Pony AI develops and operates self-driving fleets in the US and China. Its vehicles include trucks and robotaxis. It has permits to provide fare-charging, fully driverless taxi services in some parts of major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
The company is tapping US capital markets as President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration considers moves that could ramp up competition in the autonomous-driving sector, where the US and China are neck and neck in funding. The two countries also have the most robotaxi startups globally.
Pony AI said on Wednesday it had raised $260 million in its U.S. initial public offering.
It sold 20 million American depositary shares in the offering priced to investors at $13 each, the high-end of its targeted range.
Other China-based companies, including EV maker Zeekr and peer self-driving tech firm WeRide, also went public in the U.S. earlier in the year. Zeekr is trading 6.5% higher than its IPO price, while WeRide is up nearly 13%.
The Toyota Motor-backed company's valuation has come down from the $8.5 billion two years ago.
But the automotive sector's focus on disruptive technologies has led to interest from investors like Uber, who Bloomberg News reported as planning to invest in the IPO.
Pony AI also raised an additional $153.4 million in concurrent private placement.
Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities, Deutsche Bank, Huatai Securities and Tiger Brokers were the underwriters for the IPO.
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