Chinese driverless car firm nets nearly $100m series B money

Freetech Intelligent Systems, a China-based autonomous driving firm, has raised nearly US$100 million in its series B round, Nikkei Asia reported.

Chaos Investment led the round, with TCL Industries Holdings, BAIC Capital, and Hengxu Capital participating, among other investors.

Founded in 2016, Freetech creates a full-stack solution for autonomous vehicles, creating both software and hardware components to power cars. It designs and manufactures its own cameras, radar, lidar, and domain controllers. Its current tech is pegged at level 2 autonomy, which means its cars can only handle steering, braking, and accelerating in specific circumstances.

Freetech partners with over 40 automotive manufacturers, fitting more than 100 car models with its technology. The startup has testing, research, and development facilities in Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Chengdu, and it employs more than 1,200 staff.

The firm will use the fresh funds to finance its product research and development, further establish its core technology, and market its offerings.

See also: Roadblocks stall Singapore’s driverless car dreams