Recently, V Fund's early stage investment company, Horizon Robotics, announced that it has received a strategic investment from China FAW Group Corporation (FAW Group), which will be used to strengthen the forward-looking technology research and development of vehicle-grade AI chips as well as the construction of engineering implementation capabilities.
V Fund has been in contact with Horizon Robotics since 2017, and participated in its A3 and B2 financing rounds.
Horizon Robotics
Founded in 2015, Horizon Robotics provides empowering services with ultimate performance, openness and simplicity to the industry, with edge AI chips as its core. Since its establishment, Horizon Robotics has received strategic investments from many automotive companies such as FAW Group, GAC Capital, GWM Group, Dongfeng Management Capital and BYD, as well as many upstream and downstream companies in the industry chain such as Intel, SK Hynix, CATL, XINGYU CO., Ltd, WILLSEMI and sunnyoptical, etc. Its technology concept and R&D achievements are highly recognized by the industry.
Vehicle-grade AI chips are becoming the "digital engine" of smart cars. Based on the technology concept of combining hardware and software and collaborative optimization, Horizon Robotics is committed to creating an efficient bottom open technology platform with the core of "chip + algorithm + tool chain" through technological breakthroughs in key aspects such as AI computing architecture, deep learning-based autonomous driving technology and software 2.0 infrastructure to comprehensively improve the efficiency of technology development and application iteration.
For L2~L4 full-scope vehicle intelligence application scenarios, Horizon Robotics has driven the rapid iteration of the Journey chip with forward-looking technology, continuing to lead the innovation breakthrough of domestic vehicle-class AI chips. Horizon Robotics' third-generation automotive-grade product, Journey®5, combines high performance and large computing power to meet the needs of high-grade autonomous driving mass production applications. Journey®5 has won the cooperation of many mainstream car companies such as BYD, NIUTRON and FAW Hongqi. It is the only two in the world and the first one in China that can be mass-produced with 100 TOPS-class computing power AI chip.
Based on the concept of open and win-win cooperation, Horizon Robotics' independent innovative technologies, breakthrough products and solutions have brought new business value to a wide range of industrial partners. By the end of 2021, the cumulative shipment of Horizon Robotics Journey chips has exceeded 1 million units. Currently, Horizon Robotics has signed pre-installation mass production spot projects for over 70 models with more than 20 car companies, making it the largest Chinese automotive-grade AI chip company in terms of mass production scale.
As an innovation leader in China's automotive industry, FAW Group and Horizon Robotics have long established a deep partnership. Since 2020, Horizon Robotics has reached strategic cooperation with FAW Nanjing and FAW Intelligent Network Development Institute, and in May 2022, Horizon Robotics was awarded the application of FAW Hongqi's new model project, and will work together with industry partners based on multiple Journey 5 chips to help FAW Hongqi build a high-level autonomous driving solutions.
This strategic investment further deepens the cooperation between the two parties. In the future, Horizon Robotics will continue to work together with FAW Group and more industrial partners to create innovative and efficient development paths based on their respective core R&D capabilities, and promote China's smart car industry to achieve global leadership.