China tech crackdown thwarts Pony.ai’s US listing plans

New York: Autonomous driving startup Pony.ai has put on hold plans to go public in New York through a merger with a blank-cheque company at a $12-billion valuation, after it failed to gain assurances from Beijing that it would not become a target of a crackdown against Chinese technology companies, people familiar with the matter said.

The decision makes Pony.ai one of the biggest companies to suspend its US listing plans after China barred ride-sharing giant Didi Global Inc. from signing up new users just days after its blockbuster initial public offering in June. It followed up with crackdowns on other Chinese technology firms over concerns about the safety of user data, which led to some companies, such as LinkDoc Technology and Hello Inc., scrapping their US listing plans.