China crackdown leads self-driving tech startup Pony.ai to put off plans to list in the US, report says

• Chinese self-driving technology startup Pony.ai is putting off plans to list in the US stock market, according to a Reuters report.
• Pony.ai wasn't able to secure Beijing's assurance that it wouldn't be a target of the government's regulatory crackdown.
• The company will work to raise money in a private fundraising round at a valuation of $12 billion, the report said.

Pony.ai, a Chinese self-driving technology startup, is holding off on plans to go public in the US after it was unable to secure Beijing's assurance that it wouldn't be a target of the government's regulatory crackdown on tech companies, according to a Reuters report.

Pony.ai was in exclusive talks to go public through a merger with blank-check firm VectoIQ Acquisition II and the company was looking to list by October, sources told Reuters in a report published late Wednesday.

The decision makes Pony.ai one of the largest companies to suspend plans to list in the US after China launched a data-security review of Didi Global just days after the ride-sharing services company's $4.4 billion listing on New York Stock Exchange went live on June 30.

Pony.ai, which is backed by car giant Toyota Motor, will aim to raise money in a private fundraising round at a valuation of $12 billion, with sources also telling Reuters the company still hopes to list in the US if it were to receive clearance from the Chinese government.

A Pony.ai spokesperson told Reuters it has no current plan or timeline to go public and declined to comment on the talks.

The Chinese government has targeted big technology companies and others with cybersecurity reviews and industry rule changes in an effort to clamp down on issues including anti-competitive behavior and what it sees as security risks in Chinese firms listing in the US.

Didi Global shares have been shoved down to nearly $9 apiece from its $14 IPO price after the security review was launched in early July. The review led Chinese regulators to order the removal of Didi's app from mobile app stores in China, citing Didi's handling of customer data.

Pony.ai, which develops and tests its autonomous driving vehicles in the US and China, was founded by former Google and Baidu engineers Peng and Lou Tiancheng in 2016.

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