Pony AI Raises $413M, Shares Surge in Nasdaq Debut
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Pony AI Inc.’s American depositary shares jumped 19% in their trading debut after raising $413.4 million in an initial public offering and concurrent private placements, after delaying the pricing by a week.
The Chinese autonomous driving startup’s ADS traded at $15.50 each as of 11:16 a.m. in New York, above the IPO price. The company sold 20 million ADS in the offering for $13 per ADS, the top of the marketed range, to raise $260 million.
Separately, a group of investors agreed to buy $153.4 million worth of ordinary shares from the company in a private placement. One ADS is equivalent to one ordinary share. The pricing gives the Guangzhou-based firm a market value of nearly $5.4 billion, based on the outstanding ADS.
Pony’s pricing was pushed back from last week as the firm increased the deal size and addressed regulator questions, Bloomberg News reported. Uber Technologies Inc. was among those indicating interest in Pony AI shares, people familiar with the matter have said.
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The IPO adds to the modest revival in Chinese companies listing in the U.S., led by auto firms including self-driving car company WeRide Inc. and EV maker Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd. With Pony’s offering, Chinese companies have raised $1.2 billion via U.S. IPOs this year, nearly double the amount in the same period in 2023 but below the heights seen during the pandemic.
A unit of state-owned automaker Beijing Automotive Group Co., and the venture capital arm of Singaporean taxi firm ComfortDelGro Corp. had indicated an interest in purchasing as much as roughly $75 million worth of Pony’s offering, according to an earlier filing.
Pony develops and operates self-driving vehicles including trucks and robotaxis in the U.S. and China. The company has permits to provide fully driverless taxi services in Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and has a fleet of over 250 robotaxis as well as over 190 robotrucks. Its limited U.S.-based testing involves no more than 10 vehicles, the filings show.
The company is tapping U.S. 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’s backers also include Saudi Arabia’s Neom Co., the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and HongShan Capital Group, the firm formerly known as Sequoia Capital China. The company has a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group and the Chinese arm of Toyota Motor Corp.
The offering was led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. Deutsche Bank AG, Huatai Securities and Tiger Brokers. The company’s ADS trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol PONY.
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