Momenta is heading to the public markets. The self-driving software firm has opened its Hong Kong IPO, seeking up to $752mn to pour into AI research and robotaxis. The Momenta IPO would value the GM-backed company at close to $9bn.
The Suzhou-based company started taking investor orders this week under stock code 6880. It is selling about 19.9 million shares at HK$295.60 each, raising up to HK$5.9bn, or roughly $752mn, Reuters reported. At the top of the range, the float would value Momenta at nearly $9bn.
It is one of the bigger tech listings to test Hong Kong’s reviving IPO market this year.
What Momenta does
Momenta builds the software that lets cars drive themselves. It sells two things: mass-market driver-assist systems, and full self-driving for robotaxis. The first earns money today and helps fund the second.
The customer list is striking. Momenta says it works with 24 leading carmakers, including Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Audi, BMW’s China arm, Honda and SAIC. Its software now ships in 68 car models, up from eight in 2023. It claims deployments across eight of the world’s ten biggest carmaking groups.
Growing fast, still losing money
The growth is real. Revenue rose 82% last year to RMB2.4bn, or about $337mn, after RMB1.3bn in 2024 and RMB743mn in 2023, its prospectus shows. Gross margin jumped to 71.6%.
The losses are real too. Momenta lost RMB3.46bn in 2025, more than the year before. Most of that comes from accounting on its preferred shares, plus heavy research spending. The firm warns it may not turn a profit for the foreseeable future. The IPO is, in part, fuel to keep going.
Who is backing it
The share register reads like a who’s who of the car industry. General Motors, China’s SAIC, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz are all investors. Tencent and Singapore’s Temasek are on board too, Bloomberg reported.
Some are doubling down. Mercedes-Benz will return as a cornerstone investor in the float, the prospectus says. Reports add asset manager BlackRock and China’s Boyu Capital to the cornerstone group. Founder Cao Xudong, who started Momenta in 2016, keeps control through dual-class shares.
Where the money goes
The plan for the cash is clear. About 60%, or HK$3.4bn, will go to core technology and research over five years. Around 20% will speed up the robotaxi rollout.
The timeline is tight. Momenta expects to confirm share allocations by 7 July, with trading in its Class A shares due to start the next day.
Into a crowded race
Momenta is not arriving early. China already hosts the world’s busiest robotaxi scene. Pony.ai and Baidu’s Apollo Go run fully driverless rides in several cities, and WeRide is scaling up.
Carmakers are piling in as well. XPeng has put a robotaxi-grade car into production. Tesla, by contrast, only launched its FSD system in China after years of delay. The fight for data and city permits is fierce.
Momenta’s own robotaxi work is early but ambitious. It won permits for unmanned rides in Shanghai in January, and it is building what it calls the world’s first premium robotaxi with Mercedes-Benz and UAE taxi firm Lumo. It plans services in Abu Dhabi and Munich, with Uber and Grab as partners. For now, that business earns almost nothing.
Why it matters
The listing is a bet on where cars are heading. Chinese developers already lead on the scale of real-world driverless deployment. A fresh war chest lets Momenta keep pace as the robotaxi race speeds up.
It is also a test for Hong Kong. After a thin few years, Chinese AI and chip firms are floating in the city again. Momenta’s debut will show whether investors still want to fund the long, costly road to full autonomy, losses and all.
