Nio, the China-based smart electric vehicle developer backed by corporates Tencent, Baidu, Lenovo and JD.com, filed yesterday to raise up to $1.8bn in an initial public offering in the US.
Founded in 2014 as NextEV, Nio is working on plug-in electric cars that utilise smart technology such as autonomous driving software. It began delivering its first mass-produced model, a seven-seater sports utility vehicle, in June this year.
The company, which had already developed a premium supercar, intends to commercially launch a five-seater vehicle by the end of this year. It is largely still pre-revenue, booking less than $7m in revenue in the first half of 2018 and making a loss of more than $502m.
The IPO proceeds will fund research and development, sales and marketing, and the expansion of Nio’s production capabilities and supply chain.
Nio has reportedly raised about $2bn in funding altogether, more than $1bn of which came in a November 2017 round led by internet group Tencent with participation from Pine Capital, Citic Capital and Baillie Gifford that reportedly valued it at $5bn.
The company, then still known as NextEV, received $500m in a 2015 round that reportedly included Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Joy Capital and Hillhouse Capital, having also secured an undisclosed amount from Tencent, e-commerce firm JD.com and Shunwei Capital the same year.
Consumer electronics producer Lenovo, TPG, Hopu Investment Management and Temasek provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Nio in a mid-2016 round, before it added $87m in a March 2017 round co-led by Tencent and internet company Baidu.
The 2017 round also featured Lenovo, TPG, Hillhouse, IDG Capital and GIC, the sovereign wealth fund that, like Temasek, is owned by the Singaporean government.
Nio’s founders jointly own 17.2% of the company through various holding entities, while Tencent is its largest investor, with a 15.2% stake, followed by Hillhouse with 7.5%.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Securities, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Deutsche Bank Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), UBS Securities and WR Securities are the underwriters for the IPO, which will take place on the New York Stock Exchange.
– Photo courtesy of Nio.