Unmanned mining solution provider WAYTOUS nabs 300 million yuan in C funding round

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese unmanned mining solution provider WAYTOUS has bagged nearly 300 million yuan ($47.159 million) in a Series C round, the company announced on Jan. 13, resulting in over 500 million yuan ($78.6 million) in cumulative money secured over the past half-year.

The fresh funding round was led by CICC SAIC Emerging Industry Fund, an investment arm under CICC Capital. Other investors include Yuexiu Industrial Fund and Bohai Zhongsheng, a fund affiliated with BOCI (Bank of China International Limited). Hina Group served as the sole financial consultant. 

WAYTOUS' self-discharging truck co-developed with Baidu; photo credit: WAYTOUS

In August last year, the company announced the completion of its B1 round of financing with over 200 million yuan ($31.44 million) raised.

WAYTOUS said its commercial projects were being implemented in a large scale in 2021. As of now, it has delivered over 200 driverless vehicles to serve a slew of Chinese leading energy and mining firms such as CHN Energy, China Huaneng Group, China Datang Corporation, China Baowu, ChinaCoal, BBMG Corporation, and China Resources.

Based on the “parallel driving theory”, WAYTOUS has developed solutions including autonomous mining trucks, semi-autonomous excavators, an intelligent fleet management system and parallel virtual test system which has been successfully tested and put into commercialized operation. Its self-developed “YUGONG” smart mine operation platform has been deployed in multiple high-production open-pit mines.

WAYTOUS' unmanned trucks operating in Baorixile open-pit mine; photo credit: WAYTOUS

In May 2020, WAYTOUS officially launched the world's first large-scale autonomous mining truck project in an extremely cold environment: the Baorixile open-pit mine located in the Inner Mongolia Region of China. This is also the first project built with a 5G network and up to five autonomous mining trucks operating simultaneously. The project sailed through the review of the China National Coal Association in last September.