- Autonomous driving company TuSimple announced it has raised $120 million in additional Series D funding as part of an extended round
Global autonomous driving company TuSimple announced that it has secured commitments for an additional $120 million in additional Series D funding. These funds are part of an extended Series D round that was oversubscribed and reached a total of $215 million.
Existing investor UPS also joined this round. And new investors CDH Investments and automotive supplier Mando Corporation participated as well. The Series D round of funding was led by SINA, which is a leading tech company known for running Weibo.
“It’s highly gratifying to see such strong interest in TuSimple from investors and industry leaders alike, and we are grateful for the support of our committed investors,” said Cheng Lu, the Chief Financial Officer of TuSimple. “With over 50 trucks on the road worldwide and more than 18 contracted customers, we are excited about the momentum the company has achieved in four short years.”
TuSimple had previously hit unicorn status with a valuation of $1 billion and the new investment is going to bring total funding to $298 million to date. And the new funds will be used for expanding long haul service for fleets and co-develop a commercial self-driving truck with OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.
TuSimple is rapidly bringing commercial self-driving trucks to market. And the company has grown rapidly to more than 500 employees worldwide and is executing daily runs in Arizona for its customers. At the same time, TuSimple is working on the validation of its self-driving truck solution with logistics leaders UPS, the USPS, and several others.
UPS’ investment in TuSimple is considered a vote of confidence in the company’s industry leadership
position along with its technology and autonomous trucks as a whole. UPS and TuSimple are conducting daily testing between Phoenix and Tucson.
“TuSimple continues to impress the automotive and investor community with its progress towards creating the world’s first commercial self-driving truck solution,” added Jae Chung, the chief financial officer Mando. “TuSimple’s technology is at a pivotal point for maturity and it has huge market potential, which is why we wanted to deepen our relationship with TuSimple and become a strategic investor.”
