Momenta and the Software Economics of Self-Driving
While L4 specialists burn cash and platform giants court automakers, Momenta’s IPO filings reveal a licensing model with a clearer path toward software-like margins.
Momenta Global Limited passed its Hong Kong listing hearing on June 23, 2026, clearing the way for what could be a roughly $1bn IPO. The Suzhou-based autonomous driving company had filed confidentially in the US in 2024 before pivoting to Hong Kong. CICC and Deutsche Bank are joint sponsors. Pricing and final terms remain undisclosed.
On paper, Momenta joins a wave of Chinese autonomous driving companies accessing public capital. Pony.ai and WeRide completed dual listings in the US and Hong Kong in late 2025. Both broke their issue prices on the first day of Hong Kong trading. Two more algorithm suppliers, QCraft and DeepRoute, have also filed confidential listing materials with the Hong Kong exchange, according to 36Kr, a prominent Chinese technology publication. DeepRoute reportedly submitted in late 2025, about two months before Momenta. An industry source quoted in the report captured the urgency: “Everyone wants to list before Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system enters China.”
Momenta’s filing also cleared a regulatory bottleneck. The China Securities Regulatory Commission issued its offshore-listing filing notice on June 18. According to the South China Morning Post, the company is only the second “red-chip” entity, a Chinese firm incorporated offshore, to receive such approval in 2026, amid reports that regulators have tightened scrutiny of these structures. More than 500 companies were reportedly waiting to list on the Hong Kong exchange as of early May.
The prospectus, however, reveals a financial structure that differs from the L4 specialists. Momenta operates as what might be called a software Tier-1: an independent supplier that licenses driving-system software to automakers on a per-vehicle basis, then uses the data generated by those production vehicles to develop higher levels of autonomy. Revenue grew from Rmb 743m in 2023 to Rmb 2.41bn in 2025. Gross margin rose from 17.5% to 71.6% in that period, a margin profile closer to software than to conventional automotive supply. That trajectory points toward software economics, not automotive-supply economics.
The net loss remains large: Rmb 3.46bn in 2025, wider than the prior year. At headline level, the loss places Momenta in the same bracket as other listed Chinese autonomous driving companies. But the gap between headline and adjusted figures is instructive. Of that Rmb 3.46bn, approximately Rmb 2.8bn reflects fair-value changes on preferred shares and other financial liabilities, a non-cash accounting item that should largely fall away after the preferred shares convert into ordinary shares upon listing. On a non-IFRS adjusted basis, the 2025 loss narrows to roughly Rmb 303m, down from Rmb 959m the prior year. The headline loss still matters. But it obscures how quickly the underlying revenue mix is improving.
The shift is inside the revenue mix. Licensing fees rose 42-fold in two years. Understanding what that means for Momenta’s margin structure, and whether it can sustain the trajectory, requires looking at the line items underneath.
