The backer of a Silicon Valley autonomous car developer called Zoox said the secretive startup raised a fresh round of capital valuing it at more than $1 billion, roughly equal to a similar company General Motors Co. acquired earlier this month.

Zoox executives have been tight-lipped, saying little in public about the Palo Alto, Calif., company's plans. The firm is developing technology similar to Alphabet Inc.'s Google car project and Cruise Automation, which GM purchased in a deal valuing it at more than $1 billion, according to people familiar with the terms.

Zoox's profile, however, has increased recently amid heightened interest in autonomous cars and the potential for using them as self-driving taxis that can be deployed by ride-sharing services such as Uber Technologies Inc. While auto giants including GM have been working on self-driving cars for several years, companies like Zoox could play an important role refining the technology. Zoox is one of 13 companies that have received licenses from California to test autonomous vehicles on public roads.

Hong Kong-based AID Partners Capital Holdings Ltd. disclosed this week a $20 million investment for a Zoox stake that implies a $1 billion-plus valuation for the startup. AID Chairman and Chief Investment Officer Kevin Wu believes Zoox can deploy a fleet of fully autonomous vehicles by 2020 for ride-sharing services like those Uber offers.

The company's co-founder, Tim Kentley-Klay declined to comment on the investment. Zoox's co-founder is Jesse Levinson, formerly one of the lead engineers on Alphabet's self-driving car program.

Zoox is designing its own self-driving taxi and control system. It employs 140 people, according to AID, including dozens of scientists from universities. It also has attracted more than 50 engineers and professionals from Alphabet, electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc., Apple Inc., Nvidia Corp. and NASA, the investment firm said.

Companies working on future transportation technologies are attracting significant backing from venture-capital investors. Recently, nuTonomy, a Cambridge, Mass. company working on self-driving taxi technology in Singapore, disclosed a new $16 million investment. Drive.ai, based in Mountain View, Calif., received a $12 million investment a few months ago.

GM's Cruise Automation acquisition, first disclosed in March, triggered additional interest in the sector. Zoox, however, is larger and some analysts have said the company is further ahead of its rivals.

In interviews and presentations given in 2014, Mr. Kentley-Klay showed the company's blueprint for an oblong-shaped vehicle where the passenger compartment had four seats facing one another. The vehicle had large wheels and two vertically rising doors. There was no distinct front or back in early images of the vehicle design.

According to investment registration documents, Zoox already spent nearly $15 million on operations in 2014 and 2015.

Write to Mike Ramsey at michael.ramsey@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 27, 2016 13:15 ET (17:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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