A Momenta robotaxi on display at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2025. Credit: CnEVPost
- China’s securities regulator approved Momenta’s plan to issue overseas shares and list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
- The Suzhou-based self-driving company could raise at least $1 billion.
Chinese self-driving technology firm Momenta has won filing approval from the Chinese mainland’s securities regulator, clearing a key hurdle for its initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a filing notice on Thursday that it had received the overseas issuance and listing filing materials submitted by Momenta Global Limited through its domestic operating entity.
Momenta plans to issue no more than 43,754,060 overseas-listed common shares and list them on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The filing notice carries a publication date of June 18, 2026 and is dated June 10.
The CSRC stressed that the notice only confirms the filing information for the company’s overseas issuance and listing, and does not represent a substantive judgment on the investment value of the company’s securities.
Momenta must complete the listing within 12 months from the date the notice was issued, or update its filing materials if it intends to proceed thereafter.
The development brings Momenta a step closer to a debut in the Asian financial hub. The company had earlier been reported to have confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO.
Bloomberg reported in March, citing people familiar with the matter, that Momenta could seek to raise at least $1 billion and had begun meeting investors to gauge initial interest.
The company was working with China International Capital Corp (CICC) and Deutsche Bank on the listing at the time, according to the report.
The Hong Kong listing marks Momenta’s abandonment of its earlier plan to list in New York. Amid rising US-China tensions, its US IPO application, confidentially filed last year, has lapsed.
Momenta was valued at more than $5 billion in its latest funding round last year, making it one of China’s most highly valued self-driving startups.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Suzhou, a city neighboring Shanghai, the company is one of China’s best-known providers of self-driving solutions.
Its lineup of strategic investors is formidable, including Mercedes-Benz, SAIC Motor (SSE: 600104), Toyota Motor, General Motors and Tencent Holdings.
Momenta supplies mass-production driver-assistance systems to international carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, while also accelerating the commercialization of its robotaxi technology.
The company takes the approach of integrating L4 self-driving capabilities into mass-production models, creating an all-in-one solution that requires no costly retrofitting later.
Momenta secured a strategic investment from Southeast Asian super-app Grab in December 2025 to drive the deployment of its technology in the region.
In May 2025, the company also reached a strategic robotaxi partnership with US ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER).
Momenta’s ties with Mercedes-Benz are especially close. In 2017, Mercedes-Benz became the first international carmaker to invest in the company.
In December last year, the two companies teamed up with UAE mobility operator Lumo to launch a robotaxi fleet in Abu Dhabi, built on the new-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan, with formal operations planned for 2026.
BMW and Momenta are conducting development and testing across four bases in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Nanjing.
