The Momenta.ai booth at the IAA Mobility 2025 expo in Munich. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg)
Beijing Momenta Technology Co. has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the situation, adding to a flurry of share sales in the Asian financial hub.
The autonomous driving tech startup, which is backed by General Motors Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., is working with China International Capital Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG on the listing, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. The company has been meeting investors to gauge initial interest in the offering, the people said.
Momenta may seek to raise at least $1 billion in the IPO, the people said, adding that deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made. Other banks may be added later, they said.
A representative for Momenta said there have been market rumors on this for a long time and that the company’s focus is always on developing the business and not on matters related to capital markets. Deutsche Bank declined to comment, while CICC didn’t respond to a request seeking comment.
Other self-driving firms — including Pony AI Inc. and WeRide Inc. — have tapped Hong Kong’s capital markets to support their growth and tech development.
Pony AI has also tapped Hong Kong capital markets. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg News)
Momenta had previously considered listing in the U.S., confidentially filing for an IPO in 2024, people familiar with the matter said at the time. The company was working with CICC, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS Group AG on that application, which has now lapsed.
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GM announced a $300 million investment in Momenta in 2021 to accelerate the development of self-driving tech for its cars in China. Momenta, founded in 2016 by a team of artificial intelligence engineers from Microsoft Research Asia, was valued at over $5 billion in a more recent funding round last year.
Other backers in the auto industry include Mercedes Benz AG, SAIC Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., along with firms such as Temasek Holdings Pte and Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital. Momenta also has partnerships including with Uber Technologies Inc. on robotaxis, as well as Grab Holdings Ltd.
Written by Haze Fan, Julia Fioretti and Dong Cao
