TuSimple Valuation, Funding & Investors
TuSimple is valued at $1B as of September 2019.
Last TuSimple valuation
$1B
Series D · Sep 2019
Last TuSimple funding round
$350M
Series E · Nov 2020
Cumulative funding TuSimple raised
$648M
across 7 funding rounds
Key investors in TuSimple
SINA Corporation
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Zhiping CapitalLavender Hill Capital Partners
- Composite Capital Management
IDG Capital
HSG
About TuSimple
TuSimple is a San Diego-headquartered developer of Level 4 autonomous driving technology for long-haul trucks, enabling depot-to-depot operations without human drivers for logistics clients. The company deploys self-driving trucks daily across US routes and partners with firms like UPS since its founding in 2015.
Founded
2015
HQ
San Diego, CAWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Services, Subscription
Valuation
$1B (Sep 2019)
TuSimple Valuation
TuSimple is currently valued at $1B, based on its Series D in September 2019.
The $15M round included UPS Ventures, Lavender Hill Capital Partners and Mando Corporation.
TuSimple's valuation has moved from $1.1B at its Series D in February 2019 to $1B in September 2019, across 3 priced rounds.
TuSimple valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2019 | Series D | $1B |
| Jun 2019 | Series D | $1.1B |
| Feb 2019 | Series D | $1.1B |
TuSimple Funding History
TuSimple has raised a total of $648M across 7 funding rounds.
TuSimple's first fundraising round was a $8M angel round in January 2015. The most recent completed round was a $350M Series E in November 2020.
TuSimple funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2020 | Series E | Lavender Hill Capital Partners (lead); VectoIQ LLC (lead); Sun Hung Kai & Co; Sky9 Capital; Navistar; Tess Ventures; Volkswagen; Principia Growth | $350M | - | TuSimple is an autonomous trucking company founded in 2015, headquartered in San Diego with operations in Tucson, Texas, Beijing, and Shanghai, developing Level 4 self-driving trucks for logistics to improve safety, cut costs, and reduce emissions. The company closed a $350 million oversubscribed funding round in late 2020, led by VectoIQ LLC and involving investors including Lavender Hill Capital Partners, Navistar, Principia Growth, Sky9 Capital, Sun Hung Kai & Co, Tess Ventures, and Volkswagen Group, bringing total funding since inception to around $648 million. This Series E round followed a 2018 Series D raise of $95 million at over $1 billion valuation led by Sina Corp. and Composite Capital. TuSimple's technology enables depot-to-depot autonomous driving without human intervention, with testing on public roads in Arizona, Texas, and China since 2018, always with safety operators. Strategic partners include major fleets like Schneider National, Werner Enterprises, and U.S. Xpress on its advisory board, plus investors Nvidia and Traton Group. The company competed in a growing autonomous trucking sector alongside Aurora, Embark, Ike, Kodiak, and Waymo. Later public filings showed minimal revenue like $1.8 million in Q3 2021 and $4.9 million in H1 2022 amid heavy R&D losses. TuSimple pursued an IPO in early 2021 with reports of seeking $3.5-7 billion valuation but faced challenges, eventually delisting from NASDAQ in 2024, winding down U.S. operations, and seeking buyers amid lawsuits and regulatory issues. |
| Sep 2019 | Series D | UPS Ventures; Lavender Hill Capital Partners; Mando Corporation | $15M | $1B | - |
| Jun 2019 | Series D | CDH Investments (lead) | $105M | $1.1B | TuSimple is an autonomous trucking company developing Level 4 self-driving technology for long-haul routes, with operations in the US (San Diego, Tucson, Arizona) and China (Beijing, Shanghai). Founded in 2015, it focuses on a full-stack solution including hardware, software, and integration for commercial self-driving trucks to improve safety, efficiency, and reduce emissions in the $800 billion US trucking industry. In February 2019, TuSimple raised $95 million in an initial Series D round led by SINA (Weibo operator), achieving unicorn status with a post-money valuation of $1.095 billion and total funding then reaching $178 million. This was followed by an oversubscribed extension announced in September 2019, adding $120 million from new investors including CDH Investments, UPS, Lavender Capital, and Mando Corporation, bringing the full Series D to $215 million and cumulative funding to $298 million. The funds supported expansion of long-haul testing in Arizona and Texas, fleet scaling, and co-development with OEMs and suppliers. At the time, TuSimple operated over 50 trucks worldwide, conducted daily testing with UPS on the Tucson-Phoenix route (120 miles), and secured contracts with more than 18 customers. Prior raises included $55 million in 2017 for fleet scaling in China and the US, with public road testing starting in 2018. The company positioned itself as the first autonomous trucking unicorn, attracting strategic investors like logistics leader UPS and tier-1 supplier Mando. |
| Feb 2019 | Series D | SINA Corporation (lead); Composite Capital Management | $95M | $1.1B | TuSimple is an autonomous trucking technology company headquartered in San Diego and Beijing, founded in 2015. The company has developed a Level 4 autonomous retrofit system featuring a camera-centric perception system capable of seeing 1,000 meters ahead, designed to add autonomous driving capabilities to existing trucks without requiring human intervention for depot-to-depot operations. In February 2019, TuSimple completed a Series D funding round led by Sina Corp., operator of China's largest microblogging platform Weibo, with participation from Composite Capital. The round raised $95 million and valued the company at $1.095 billion post-money, achieving unicorn status. Prior to this round, the company had raised $178 million in total funding from investors including Nvidia and ZP Capital. At the time of the funding announcement, TuSimple was operating three to five commercial trucks on real-world cargo runs for paying customers in Arizona, with plans to scale to more than 50 autonomous trucks by June 2019 and expand operations into Texas. The capital was designated for fleet expansion, developing critical joint production programs with OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers such as Cummins Inc., and integrating TuSimple's autonomous software with powertrain, braking, and steering systems to enable commercial production of self-driving trucks. |
| Nov 2017 | Series C | Composite Capital Management (lead); Zhiping Capital; SINA Corporation | $55M | - | TuSimple, an autonomous trucking company focused on line-haul freight transport between ports, plants, warehouses, and distribution centers, announced a $55 million Series C funding round on November 28, 2017, led by Composite Capital Management (also referred to as Fuhe Capital) with participation from existing investors SINA Corporation and Zhiping Capital (ZP Capital). The funding aims to scale testing to two full truck fleets in China and the U.S., build a production engineering team in Tucson, Arizona, and advance R&D in San Diego and Beijing. Prior to this, TuSimple raised over $20 million in a SINA-led Series B in August 2017 backed by NVIDIA GPU Ventures and RMB50 million (about $7.7 million) in 2015. The company develops SAE Level 4 autonomous driving technology combining AI, computer vision, and mapping for safety-critical driving with minimal human intervention, targeting road safety, driver shortages, and emissions reduction. In November 2017, TuSimple demonstrated its Level 4 system in Shanghai without human intervention and is expanding U.S. deployment from Tucson. Earlier achievements include breaking 10 world records in autonomous driving in September 2016, ranking No. 1 in KITTI and Cityscapes benchmarks, and completing a 170-mile public road test from San Diego to Yuma, Arizona in July 2017 using Level 4. Later developments include a $95 million Series D closed in December 2018, bringing total funding to $178 million, and much larger rounds like Series E totaling $546 million before its 2021 IPO, where it reported $1.8 million in revenue from autonomous freight runs but at a $7.85-8.49 billion valuation. |
| Aug 2017 | Series B | SINA Corporation (lead); Zhiping Capital | $20M | - | TuSimple is an autonomous trucking technology company founded in 2015, headquartered in San Diego with operations in Tucson, Arizona, and Shanghai, focusing on Level 4 self-driving trucks for commercial freight delivery. In late 2017, the company raised $55 million to scale testing to two full truck fleets in China and the U.S., followed by public road testing on routes like Tucson-Phoenix and Shanghai segments by 2018. SINA, operator of China's major microblogging site Weibo, emerged as one of TuSimple's earliest and repeated investors, participating in multiple rounds including a 2019 Series D where it led with $95 million at a $1.095 billion post-money valuation, achieving unicorn status. By June 2019, reports indicated Sina-backed TuSimple closing a $200 million Series D led by Sina and CDH Investments (each $100 million), bringing total disclosed funding to $305 million, amid soaring valuations and partnerships like USPS pilots in Arizona serving 12 clients with 3-5 daily commercial trips. TuSimple expanded aggressively post-2017, securing investments from Nvidia in 2017 (April and August), rejecting an Amazon acquisition attempt in May 2017, and later attracting UPS, Schneider, Werner, Union Pacific, Navistar, TRATON, and others. Its Series E reached $546 million, culminating in a 2021 IPO raising $1.1 billion at a $7.85 billion valuation midpoint, with total private funding of $800 million over five years prior. |
| Jan 2015 | Angel | SINA Corporation (lead); Wei Venture Capital; YF Capital; IDG Capital; Sinovation Ventures; HSG | $8M | - | - |
Who has invested in TuSimple?
19 investors have backed TuSimple across its funding rounds, including SINA Corporation, Zhiping Capital, Lavender Hill Capital Partners, Composite Capital Management, IDG Capital and HSG.
Lead investors include Lavender Hill Capital Partners, VectoIQ LLC, CDH Investments, SINA Corporation and Composite Capital Management.
TuSimple Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Beijing | 4 | Lead | Jan 2015 | |
| Composite Capital Management |  Hong Kong | 2 | Lead | Nov 2017 |
| Hong Kong | 2 | Lead | Sep 2019 | |
| Zhiping Capital | Jiaxing | 2 | Participant | Aug 2017 |
| Shanghai | 1 | Participant | Jan 2015 | |
| Shanghai | 1 | Participant | Jan 2015 | |
| Hong Kong | 1 | Participant | Nov 2020 | |
| Atlanta, GA | 1 | Participant | Sep 2019 | |
| Beijing | 1 | Participant | Jan 2015 | |
| Shanghai | 1 | Participant | Nov 2020 | |
| Chicago, IL | 1 | Participant | Nov 2020 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Participant | Nov 2020 | |
| Beijing | 1 | Participant | Jan 2015 | |
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Start Free TrialTuSimple Competitors
TuSimple competitors include listed companies like Wuxi Boton Technology and EquipmentShare.com, and private ones like UISEE, Gatik, Glydways and Phantom Auto.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beijing | Private | - | - | $1.1B | - | |
| San Francisco, CA | Private | - | - | $700M | - | |
| San Francisco, CA | Private | - | - | $700M | - | |
| United States | Private | $37M | - | $500M | 13.5x | |
| China | Publicly listed | $516M | $55M | $1.3B | - | |
| United States | Publicly listed | $4.4B | $704M | $4.6B | 1.8x |
TuSimple Public Comps
TuSimple is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Extreme Vision, Keytop Parking, Aeva, GuoChuang Software, Robosense, Beijing eGova, Jiangsu Tongxingbao, JSTI, Red Cat Holdings and Droneshield.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $44M | ($6M) | 22.8x | 11.6x | (163.7x) | - | |||
| $124M | $29M | 7.5x | - | 32.3x | - | |||
| $18M | ($139M) | 54.7x | 35.6x | (7.1x) | (8.7x) | |||
| $220M | ($17M) | 4.8x | - | (60.4x) | - | |||
| $289M | ($19M) | 2.1x | 1.6x | (31.9x) | (52.9x) | |||
| $90M | ($52M) | 8.4x | - | (14.5x) | - | |||
| $159M | $47M | 2.7x | - | 9.2x | - | |||
| $622M | $30M | 1.6x | 1.7x | 32.7x | 13.8x | |||
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Common questions about TuSimple
| When was TuSimple founded? | TuSimple was founded in 2015. |
| Where is TuSimple headquartered? | TuSimple is headquartered in San Diego, CA, United States. |
| Is TuSimple publicly listed? | No, TuSimple is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is TuSimple's valuation? | TuSimple was last valued at $1B in its Series D in September 2019. |
| How much funding has TuSimple raised? | TuSimple has raised $648M across 7 funding rounds. |
| What was TuSimple's last funding round? | TuSimple's last funding round was a $350M Series E in November 2020, led by Lavender Hill Capital Partners and VectoIQ LLC. |
| Who are TuSimple's investors? | TuSimple's investors include SINA Corporation, Composite Capital Management, Lavender Hill Capital Partners, Zhiping Capital, Wei Venture Capital, YF Capital, Sun Hung Kai & Co, UPS Ventures, IDG Capital, Sky9 Capital and 9 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to TuSimple? | Companies comparable to TuSimple include UISEE, Gatik, Glydways, Phantom Auto, Wuxi Boton Technology and EquipmentShare.com. |
See companies similar to TuSimple
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