Nothing stands in Pony.ai’s way as firm lists in Hong Kong, CEO James Peng says
Hong Kong listing broadens investor base as the autonomous-driving company expands robotaxi services in mainland and abroad, founder says
In the 10th year since founding Pony.ai in the US, James Peng has completed the autonomous-driving company’s second share listing, with its debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday coming less than a year after it started trading on the Nasdaq.
“Because our home base is in China, I think listing in Hong Kong will definitely help us in terms of branding, in terms of the proximity to our home base,” Peng said in an interview.
“By listing in Hong Kong, it also broadens our investor base,” Peng added. “A lot more Asian-based or Asian-focused investors can easily invest in us and become a good partner to Pony’s growth.”
Peng, who hails from Yueyang, in central China’s Hunan province, studied at Tsinghua University and earned a PhD at Stanford University. He then worked at Google and Baidu before starting his own business in 2016 in Silicon Valley where “many cutting-edge technologies originate”.
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Pony.ai set to further open China’s autonomous-driving frontier
But from the very beginning, Peng knew he wanted Pony.ai to conquer China, “the world’s largest mobility market”.