Self-driving Truck Startup Inceptio Raises $188M in Series B+

Chinese self-driving truck startup Inceptio announced on Monday that it raised $188 million in a Series B+ which was co-led by Sequoia Capital China and Lenovo’s corporate venture capital arm, Legend Capital.

Inceptio also said that it started mass production of heavy-duty trucks with semi-autonomous driving functions with an unnamed Chinese automaker late last year.

An undisclosed number of heavy-duty trucks equipped with Inceptio’s technology have been deployed for daily commercial operations with safety drivers on Chinese highways. Existing investors, Meituan and Nio Capital, also participated in the financing.

Inceptio, which was founded in 2018, has raised approximately $650 million to date.

It raised a $100 million Series A round in April 2020, followed by an additional $100 million in November 2020.

The Series B round of $270 million led by JD Logistics, Meituan, and PAG. Deppon Express. IDG Capital, CMB International, SDIC, Mirae Asset, Eight Roads, and Broad Vision Funds also participated in the investment, as well as existing shareholders GLP Hidden Hill Capital, CATL, NIO Capital and Eastern Bell Capital.

Inceptio is currently deploying its technology on Level 3 autonomous heavy-duty trucks. Level 3 vehicles can detect their environments and make some decisions, but a human driver is still required.