Driverless Tech Firm Pony AI’s Shares Sink 7.7% After US IPO

(Bloomberg) — Pony AI Inc.’s American depositary shares erased an early pop to decline 7.7% 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.

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The Chinese autonomous driving startup’s shares closed at $12 each on Wednesday in New York, below 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 $4.2 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.

The IPO adds to the modest revival in Chinese companies listing in the US, 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 US 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 US 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 US-based testing involves no more than 10 vehicles, the filings show.

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.

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