(Yicai) March 26 -- Pony.ai's shares plunged after the Chinese autonomous driving startup said its loss widened 120 percent last year after the firm spent more on research and development and costs related to its initial public offering.

Pony.ai [NASDAQ: PONY] closed 8.1 percent lower at USD12.14 a share in New York yesterday. In pre-market trading today, the stock was up 1.7 percent at USD12.35 as of 4 a.m. local time. The shares were priced at USD13 each when the company listed last November.

The net loss was USD275 million in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, the Guangzhou-based company said in a financial report released yesterday. Revenue rose 4.3 percent to USD75 million.

Revenue has climbed for three consecutive years, but strategic investments have impacted profit, noted Chief Financial Officer Leo Wang.

R&D expenses nearly doubled to USD240.2 million last year, driven by the development of Pony.ai's seventh-generation autonomous vehicles in collaboration with automakers. The company also logged high costs from share-based compensation related to its IPO.

"2024 marked a milestone year for Pony.ai as we transitioned to a public company," said co-founder and Chief Executive James Peng. “Our robotaxi-first, China-first, and tier-one cities-first approach has positioned us at the forefront of the race towards large-scale commercialization.”

Its robotruck unit was a bright spot for the company in 2024, with revenue surging 61 percent to USD40.4 million after the firm expanded operations into new regions. However, its robotaxi segment saw revenue fall 5.3 percent to USD7.3 million while licensing income tumbled 30 percent to USD27.3 million.

Pony.ai raised USD260 million through the sale of 20 million American depositary shares.

"Our successful IPO has enhanced our financial strength and flexibility, providing us with ample capital for disciplined production scale-up and R&D investments," Wang said, adding that the company will "remain focused on improving unit economics this year.”

For the fourth quarter of last year, the firm reported that its net loss ballooned 775 percent to USD181.1 million from a year earlier, while revenue sank 30 percent to USD35.5 million.

Editor: Martin Kadiev