China’s driverless delivery startup Whale Dynamic targets US market with $2.5M funding –
Summary
Qianchuang Capital, a Beijing-based investment firm managed by veterans from China’s leading financial institutions, led the round, with participation from Shangbang Huizhong, a Chinese fund backed by real estate developers. Whale Dynamic’s slight edge over Nuro lies in costs, surmises Chang, who worked as a product manager in Baidu’s intelligent driving group. Led by director of engineering Qi Wei who hailed from Huawei, the company aims to have its first prototype car testing in some Chinese cities in May. In China, Whale Dynamic faces competition from retail tech giants like Meituan and JD.com, which started testing their own goods-only delivery vehicles last year. TuSimple, a California-based autonomous trucking company backed by an affiliate of Chinese social media giant Sina, is looking to sell its China unit, Reuters reported.