(Yicai Global) Oct.18 -- Two-year old Chinese driverless tech startup called Chusudu Technology, also known as Momenta, has finished its latest round of funding to reach a valuation of over USD1 billion, which puts it into the group of young Chinese car unicorns including NIO and Xpeng Motors.

Momenta, which develops mapping and perceptive driving software based on deep learning, has secured five rounds of funding worth more than USD200 million. The company has been in talks with car manufacturers and suppliers to cooperate and expanded its business abroad.

This time, the strategic investors include tech giant Tencent Holdings, China Merchants Venture Capital Management, a unit of China Construction Bank named CCB International, Guoxin Investment, which belongs to a Shanghai-based state-owned asset manager, and Oriza Holdings that is an investment arm of Suzhou Industrial Park. 

Two earlier investors, namely NIO Capital, a private equity fund set up by car startup NIO, and venture capital firm Good Capital, also participated in the latest round of funding.

Cao Xudong, founder and Chief Executive of the car company, graduated from Tsinghua University, the firm says on its website. Other staff mainly come from universities and research institutes such as Tsinghua University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Microsoft Research Asia, as well as high-tech companies such as Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings, Huawei Technologies, and SenseTime.

The firm's previous investors include Daimler, private equity firm Cathy Capital, venture capital fund Shunwei Capital, US-China-focused seed venture firm Sinovation Ventures, startup investor Blue Lake Capital, Beijing's seed stage fund ZhenFund, and impact investment catalyst Unity Ventures.

Editor: Emmi Laine