Hesai Technology Secures $300M Funding

Investment Surge in Lidar Technology

The trend of investment in lidar companies is accelerating, driven by increasing adoption from both automotive manufacturers and companies developing self-driving vehicle technology.

Hesai Secures $300 Million in Series D Funding

Hesai, a lidar manufacturer established in Shanghai in 2014 and with a presence in Palo Alto, has recently completed a Series D funding round exceeding $300 million. This investment was spearheaded by GL Ventures, the venture capital division of Hillhouse Capital.

Additional investors included smartphone producer Xiaomi, on-demand service provider Meituan, and CPE, Citic’s private equity platform.

Allocation of Funds

The newly acquired capital will be allocated to several key areas. These include the large-scale production of Hesai’s hybrid solid-state lidar systems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Furthermore, funds will support the construction of a state-of-the-art smart manufacturing facility and continued research and development efforts focused on automotive-grade lidar chips.

To date, the company reports having raised “several hundred million dollars” in total funding.

Diverse Investor Portfolio

The funding round also saw participation from Huatai International Private Equity Fund, Lightspeed China Partners, Lightspeed Venture Capital, and Qiming Venture Partners.

Notably, Bosch, Baidu, and ON Semiconductor are already established shareholders in Hesai.

Growing Lidar Market

This investment follows a similar trend seen with other Chinese lidar startups. For example, Innovusion, a key supplier to Nio, secured $64 million in funding led by Temasek in May. Livox, originating as a spin-off from DJI, is another emerging player in the lidar space.

Expanding Applications Beyond Automotive

The appeal of lidar extends beyond robotaxis and electric vehicles, explaining the involvement of Xiaomi and Meituan in Hesai’s funding round.

Xiaomi, with its extensive network of connected devices, can leverage lidar for advancements in industrial automation. The company also has announced plans to enter the electric vehicle market.

Meituan, a leading food delivery service in China, could utilize lidar-equipped unmanned vans and drones to optimize its delivery operations.

Hesai’s Global Reach and Partnerships

Employing over 500 individuals, Hesai serves clients in 70 cities across 23 countries.

Its customer base includes prominent companies such as Nuro, Bosch, Lyft, Navya, Baidu, WeRide, and AutoX.

Last year, Hesai initiated a collaboration with Scale AI to launch an open-source dataset for training autonomous driving algorithms, utilizing data gathered from Hesai’s lidar systems in California.

Resolution of Legal Disputes

In July of the previous year, Hesai and Velodyne, a pioneering lidar technology company, reached a long-term licensing agreement, resolving ongoing legal proceedings in the U.S., Germany, and China.