Horizon Robotics, a Beijing-headquartered AI chip designer, has gathered an aggregate of $350 million in its Series C3 round of financing, the investee announced on Tuesday.
The Series C3 tranche brings the total corpus raised by Horizon in its Series C round to $900 million, nearly $200 higher than its initial target proposed in December last year.
The Series C3 round saw the participation from a clutch of industry groups – including BYD Auto, Great Wall Motors, Changjiang Automobile Electronic, Dongfeng Motor’s asset management arm Dongfeng Asset, optical products provider Sunny Optical Technology and Shanghai-listed Changzhou Xingyu Car Light.
State-backed CMC-SDIC Capital, CICC Capital’s sub-fund, Shougang Fund and Shanghai AI industry fund too joined the round.
Late last year, Horizon had closed the first tranche of the Series C round, or Series C1 round, at $150 million co-led by 5Y Capital, Hillhouse Capital’s VC unit GL Ventures and Capital Today.
Subsequently, in January this year, the designer had further garnered $400 million in its Series C2 round from UK-based investment firm Baillie Gifford, Alibaba Jack Ma’s YF Capital, CITIC Private Equity Funds Management (CPE), among others.
The proceeds of the current round will be used to facilitate its autonomous vehicle driven intelligent technology platform.
Horizon, the Chinese rival to US-based Nvidia, has been focused on developing intelligent AI chips for smart mobility, surveillance cameras, and other smart devices. Set up in 2015, the designer has leveraged AI and machine learning to deliver solutions for autonomous driving, in-cabin comfort and safety, and delivery robots.
Horizon’s early-stage investors include Intel Capital, DST Global, Vertex Ventures China, Sinovation Ventures, ZhenFund, among others.
Earlier in January, Horizon’s peer 4Paradigm raised $700 million in its Series D round funding jointly led by PE firm Boyu Capital, Primavera Capital, and Hopu Investment.