On October 25th, autonomous driving company Wenyuan Zhixing was officially listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, becoming the first stock of a global general autonomous driving company. On the first day of listing, Wenyuan Zhixing's stock price rose 6.77%, closing at $16.55 per share, with a total market value of $4.491 billion.
This year, the IPO of autonomous driving companies is accelerating. On October 18th, Xiaoma Zhixing officially submitted its IPO prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, planning to go public on NASDAQ. Qiqi Chuxing will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July, becoming the "first stock of Robotaxi".
Wenyuan Zhixing listed on NASDAQ
On the first day of listing, Wenyuan Zhixing had experienced two circuit breakers due to a significant increase. As of the close of the day, Wenyuan Zhixing's stock price rose 6.77%, closing at $16.55, with a total market value of $4.491 billion.
The successful listing is a new starting point for us. Wenyuan Zhixing will continue to adhere to technological innovation and bring safe, comfortable, and convenient autonomous driving products and services to users in more countries and regions, "said Han Xu, founder and CEO of Wenyuan Zhixing
The price of this public offering by Wenyuan Zhixing is $15.5 per American Depositary Share. Assuming the underwriters exercise their over allotment rights, the company will publicly issue a total of 8.9038 million American Depositary Shares. Combined with the previously disclosed synchronized private placement of $320 million, the total fundraising amount of Wenyuan Zhixing's public offering may reach $458.5 million.
Since its establishment in 2017, Wenyuan Zhixing has been committed to "changing human travel with autonomous driving", providing autonomous driving products and services from L2 to L4 levels, forming five product matrices including autonomous driving taxis Robotaxi, autonomous driving minibuses Robobus, autonomous driving freight vehicles Robovan, autonomous driving sanitation vehicles Robosweeper, and advanced intelligent driving Adapted Driving Solution, with application scenarios covering smart travel, smart freight transportation, and smart sanitation.
At present, Wenyuan Zhixing is the only technology company in the world that holds autonomous driving licenses in China, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the United States. It has conducted autonomous driving research and development, testing, and operation in 30 cities in 7 countries worldwide, with over 1700 operating days.
According to the prospectus, from 2021 to the first half of 2024, Wenyuan Zhixing's revenue was 138 million yuan, 528 million yuan, 400 million yuan, and 150 million yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of approximately 5 billion yuan. During the same period, the company's research and development expenses were 443 million yuan, 759 million yuan, 1.058 billion yuan, and 517 million yuan, respectively, which were about 3 times, 1.5 times, 2.5 times, and 3.5 times its current revenue. Regarding the reasons for the losses, Wenyuan Zhixing explained in the prospectus that "the main reason is the high research and development investment. Currently, autonomous driving technology is still in the stage of development and continuous improvement, and requires sustained investment in a large amount of funds for technology research and development.
Autonomous driving companies accelerate their listing
Another autonomous driving company, Xiaoma Zhixing, officially submitted its IPO prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on October 18th, with plans to go public on NASDAQ. Xiaoma Zhixing was founded in 2016 with the technical goal of creating "virtual drivers" suitable for different vehicle models and scenarios, and laying out three major businesses: autonomous driving travel services, autonomous driving trucks, and intelligent driving of passenger cars. In the complex urban public roads, as of October 2024, Xiaoma Zhixing has accumulated 40 million kilometers of autonomous driving road test mileage, including 4 million kilometers of fully autonomous driving road test mileage, laying the foundation for large-scale and unmanned autonomous driving services.
The funds raised from Xiaoma Zhixing's IPO will mainly be used for the large-scale commercialization and market development of autonomous driving travel services and freight services; Continue to invest in the company's autonomous driving technology research and development; General purpose of the company, as well as potential strategic investments and acquisitions to enhance the company's technological capabilities and build an industrial chain ecosystem.
On July 10th, Ruqi Travel landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and became the first stock of Robotaxi. Ruqi Travel started the development and commercialization of Robotaxi in 2021. The company is the world's first transportation platform to launch a commercial hybrid operation of manned ride hailing and Robotaxi services, which is compatible with various autonomous driving solutions and Robotaxi models. As of the end of 2023, Ruqi Travel's Robotaxi service has operated for a total of 20080 hours, covering 545 stations.
In addition, companies such as autonomous driving computing chip company Black Sesame Intelligence, advanced assisted driving (ADAS), and advanced autonomous driving (AD) solution provider Horizon Robotics have also gone public this year.
The development of the autonomous driving industry is accelerating
At present, there are numerous players in the global field of autonomous driving, with car companies, autonomous driving technology enterprises, and travel service platforms jointly driving the development of the industry. On October 11th, Tesla released Robotaxi, a self driving taxi service, as well as two fully autonomous models, Cybercab and Robovan. Experts say that Tesla's release of Robotaxi is expected to accelerate the iteration of FSD technology.
Recently, Didi Autonomous Driving completed a Series C financing of 298 million US dollars (approximately 2.12 billion yuan), led by Guangzhou Automobile Group and participated by Didi. The financing funds will be used to increase research and development investment in autonomous driving technology, accelerating the landing of the first Robotaxi mass-produced vehicle.
As a leading car company, GAC Group is constantly increasing its efforts in the field of autonomous driving. As early as 2021, Didi Autonomous Driving signed a strategic cooperation agreement with GAC Aion. In May 2023, the two sides announced the progress of their cooperation and launched the first L4 level unmanned production model in 2025. Guangzhou Automobile Group previously announced that it will invest no more than $20 million (approximately RMB 142 million) in Wenyuan Zhixing and $27 million (approximately RMB 192 million) in Xiaoma Zhixing.
Guangzhou Automobile Group's subsidiary, Ruqi Travel, has made significant progress in the commercialization of Robotaxi. This includes obtaining the Robotaxi manned demonstration application qualification in Shenzhen in January this year, and being approved to provide paid autonomous driving travel services in Bao'an District at the end of the same month. In August, it was announced that Robotaxi road tests would be conducted throughout the Hengqin Guangdong Macao Deep Cooperation Zone.
Galaxy Securities stated that the field of autonomous driving is currently showing a development trend of multiple industry participants, including chip factories, host factories, and technology companies, driving the continued acceleration of the development of the autonomous driving industry. Huafu Securities believes that high-level autonomous driving is accelerating its commercialization and entering a new stage in terms of regulations, technology, and capital operations. After years of development and accumulation, the industry is about to enter a period of explosive growth.
