Self-driving truck tech firm Plus raises $220m

Plus, a leading provider of self-driving truck technology, announced on Wednesday that it has raised another $220 million in its latest fundraising round co-led by FountainVest Partners and ClearVue Partners.

The investment is an extension of the $200 million round announced last month, which was led by CPE and Guotai Junan International.

The new round also attracted investors including Quanta Computer Inc, Phi Zoyi Capital and Millennium Technology Value Partners. The company's existing investors including Sequoia Capital China, SAIC Capital and Full Truck Alliance (FTA) also participated.

According to the company, the additional funds will enable Plus to further expand its global operations and commercial deployment plans across the United States, China, Europe and other parts of Asia for its driver-in autonomous driving solution, PlusDrive.

Currently, the company is in the final stages of certifying PlusDrive for commercial operation in China. Mass production for the PlusDrive-powered automated truck jointly developed with FAW, the world's largest heavy truck maker, is set to start this summer.

"Plus is the only autonomous trucking company to start mass production of its autonomous driving system this year and this investment will help fuel plans to bring our automated trucks to market," said David Liu, CEO and co-founder of Plus. "We are grateful to our investors, partners, customers and team for sharing in our vision to make trucking safer and greener."

Alex Zhang, partner and head of the industrial group at FountainVest, said: "Self-driving technology will be transformational for the trucking industry by making our world safer and greener, and helping fleets drive with more fuel efficiency and reduce operating costs. With the mass production of its autonomous driving system this year, Plus is hitting an important inflection point for the company. We're thrilled to contribute to the company's success."

"Autonomous driving is going to revolutionize the world, across consumer and commercial applications, and ClearVue has been at the forefront of investing in leading companies bringing autonomous solutions to market. We are confident in Plus and its ability to deliver, and excited to help accelerate its growth plans," said Kathleen Ying, partner at ClearVue.