Nio, Momenta and CATL invest in truck startup Zeron

In July 2025, Zeron announced a funding round worth 500 million yuan (approx. €63 million Euros), which saw participation from Momenta and other financial investors. Its latest funding round has now more than doubled that amount, with commitments totalling 1.2 billion yuan (around €151 million euros).The list of investors now reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the industry: the latest round was led by CATL Puquan Capital, Momenta, and Nio Capital. This means the world’s largest battery manufacturer, a leading expert in autonomous driving, and a premium EV manufacturer have all joined forces to back this investment.Zeron was founded in April 2022 by former executives from TuSimple and Sany Truck and had delivered over 1,600 units of its two models, Jingzhe and Xiaoman, by the end of 2025. TuSimple specialises in autonomous trucks, while Sany Truck is a major manufacturer of construction machinery and heavy-duty trucks.Autonomous solutions are set to play a pivotal role in Zeron’s future, which is why Momenta has now invested in the startup for the fourth time. Momenta CEO Cao Xudong stated: “We have witnessed the team’s steady progress over the past few years. The potential for autonomous heavy trucks is enormous, and that strengthens our confidence in Zeron’s future.”Zeron’s founder and CEO, Huang Zehua, meanwhile, said the company initially focused on developing its own vehicle platform instead of entering the autonomous driving market solely as a software provider. “Many startups prefer to begin with something easier, but we decided from the beginning to tackle the hardest part — the vehicle itself,” Huang said. According to a report by China Daily, the company has already implemented an end-to-end autonomous driving system based on multimodal large models and is testing it in real-world logistics scenarios.Zeron plans to launch regular driverless operations in the second quarter of 2026. Additionally, the company has set a target to deliver 5,000 heavy-duty trucks this year. CEO Huang Zehua expects Zeron to reach its break-even point as early as this year.chinadaily.com.cn, cnevpost.com