Chinese robo-van maker Neolix announced on August 18 the completion of hundreds of millions of RMB Series B funding round led by CICC Capital and SoftBank Ventures Asia, and followed by Yunqi Partners and Glory Ventures.

Neolix said in an announcement that this round of funding will be used to scale up the unmanned vehicle service network, signaling a new phase in the landing of driverless technology application scenarios around the world.

The announcement cited CICC Capital's CFO An Yuan as calling Neolix a leader in China's unmanned delivery industry with outstanding technical capabilities and a clear first-mover advantage, and CICC Capital's long-term bullishness on the development of the driverless industry.

Neolix's founders and team are resourceful and focused on the unmanned retail sector, and will soon realize the mass production landing and commercial operation of unmanned retail vehicles to provide city residents with a new model of consumption across generations, An said.

The announcement cited Roy Liu Likun, executive director of SoftBank Ventures Asia, as saying that Neolix has developed an efficient, safe and standardized operating system in the autonomous driving space with the help of massive amounts of data that are constantly updated and iterated.

Neolix's team has outstanding product innovation and strong hardware and software technology development capabilities, and SoftBank Ventures Asia is optimistic about the company's expansion in more areas and global markets, Liu said.

Chen Yu, a partner at Yunqi Partners, said Neolix continues to explore business scenario areas to expand the scale of unmanned vehicles globally.

Yunqi Partners has a long-term focus and bullishness on emerging technologies that can improve people's lives and productivity experiences and create greater social value, according to Chen.

Founded in February 2018, Neolix has already mass-produced iterations to its third generation of products and has delivered nearly 1,000 unmanned vehicles in more than 30 cities in nine countries around the world, with a cumulative mileage of more than 1.3 million kilometers.

In May, Neolix received permission to conduct unmanned deliveries in Beijing's high-level self-driving demonstration zone, and will have a network of more than a thousand unmanned vehicles in service by the end of this year.

Neolix says it has partnered with food service companies such as Pizza Hut and KFC for regular operations on open roads in more than a dozen cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.

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(Photo source: Neolix)