Neolix raises nearly US$400 million as autonomous delivery moves from pilot to fleet

The Series E will fund local service hubs in new regional markets and further AI model training, with Vertex Growth participating.

Last-mile delivery is among the most labour-intensive parts of logistics, and one of the hardest to automate economically. For years, autonomous delivery vehicles were expensive to build and difficult to deploy beyond controlled pilots.

That is changing. By 2025, Neolix said its vehicle build cost had fallen below 100,000 yuan (approximately US$14,000), compared with an industry estimate of 300,000 to 500,000 yuan (approximately US$42,000 to US$70,000) in 2021. Founded in 2018 and based in Beijing, Neolix develops Level 4 autonomous logistics vehicles, or “Robovans”, for deliveries in office and industrial parks, university campuses, residential areas and central business districts. Its vehicles and services operate across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Australia. The company reports a fleet of more than 30,000 vehicles and over 260 million kilometres of autonomous driving.

The latest round brings Neolix’s total funding to more than US$1.4 billion. The proceeds will be used to establish local service hubs in major regional markets, expand its global customer fulfilment network, and invest in data training for its AI models to improve safety and performance while lowering operating costs.

“Our goal is to build an efficient, reliable autonomous transport network that becomes part of urban and rural infrastructure and makes affordable logistics accessible to more communities,” said Yu Enyuan, Founder and CEO of Neolix.

A maturing market

Neolix is not alone. China’s driverless delivery sector is drawing automakers, autonomous driving specialists and logistics operators, as a mature automotive supply chain brings down the cost of sensors, computing platforms and vehicle components. Companies increasingly specialise and partner: automakers supply vehicles, technology companies provide the driving systems, and logistics operators bring customers and orders. Commercial models are also broadening, with leasing, pay-per-delivery and robot-as-a-service arrangements emerging alongside outright vehicle sales.

Challenges remain. Delivery work also involves loading, unloading and handing over goods, tasks that today’s autonomous vehicles cannot fully handle.

Vertex’s perspective

Vertex Growth has been an investor in Neolix since its Series D round and participated again in the Series E. The fund continues to support the company as it expands its Robovan operations into new markets.

Looking ahead

Neolix’s international expansion is already under way. In September, the company announced plans for a European headquarters in Luxembourg, and in June it received approval from Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport for public-road sandbox testing of its Level 4 vehicles in Cyberjaya, with trials running through the second half of 2026. With new capital in place, the focus turns to building local service networks in each of these markets.