Momenta, a Chinese self-driving technology company, has reached a valuation of roughly $9 billion as it prepares for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to reporting by Jiahui Huang for the Wall Street Journal.
The company is gearing up to raise about $1 billion in the upcoming listing, sources told the Journal. An IPO of that size would mark one of the more notable debuts in the autonomous-driving space and give Momenta fresh capital to fund its work.
Momenta has drawn backing from major players in the auto industry. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company counts Japanese automaker Toyota and Chinese state-owned carmaker SAIC Motor among its investors. That kind of strategic support from established automakers can give a self-driving firm both funding and a path to getting its technology into real vehicles.
The details reported so far are drawn from unnamed sources, and the company itself has not publicly confirmed the figures.
Why it matters: A $9 billion valuation and a planned $1 billion raise signal that investor appetite for autonomous-driving technology remains strong, and that Hong Kong is positioning itself as a venue for big Chinese tech listings.