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Chinese autonomous driving startup WeRide's U.S. stock market listing has been delayed.
On the 22nd (local time), CNBC in the United States reported that WeRide postponed its listing schedule because the preparation of documents required for an initial public offering (IPO) was taking longer than expected. The company said in a statement, “Updating documents is taking longer than expected,” and “We are working to complete the necessary documents.” The listing was delayed because the Chinese government’s overseas IPO approval period expired. CNBC reported that it is unclear whether the listing will proceed in the future.
Recently, WeRide filed an investment prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It was expected to be listed on the NASDAQ within this month in the form of ADRs. The desired IPO price band is $15.5 to $18.5, and 6,452,000 American Depositary Shares (ADSs) will be offered. The market capitalization after the listing is expected to reach $5.02 billion (approximately KRW 6.7 trillion). It has attracted attention as the largest Chinese corporate IPO since the listing of Chinese electric car brand Zike on the New York Stock Exchange in May.
Founded in 2017, WeRide is incorporated in the Cayman Islands. It started a robotaxi service in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Its core business includes selling autonomous vehicles and supporting autonomous driving technology. Since starting the local robotaxi service in 2019, it has introduced RoboBus, RoboVan, an autonomous cargo truck, and Robosweeper, an autonomous cleaning vehicle. It also provides advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) solutions. It is currently conducting autonomous vehicle test runs and commercial operations in 30 cities in 7 countries around the world.
WeRide is also developing a business that supplies solutions for level 2-3 autonomous driving systems in cooperation with German auto parts company Bosch. It has attracted investment from Bosch, NVIDIA, and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Automobile Alliance. The company attracted attention in April by releasing the world's first level 4 autonomous driving unmanned cleaning vehicle, the 'Robosweeper S1'. Its exterior is shaped like a van and its interior is equipped with a water tank (400L) and trash can (240L). It can clean an area of up to 120,000㎡ with a single charge. On the first day of release, it recorded an order amount of close to 10 million dollars (approximately 13.3 billion won).
The company showcased a self-driving bus that will run from the parking lot of the Roland Garros Stadium, where tennis matches will be held during the 2024 Paris Olympics, to the stadium. It will run unmanned for about 12 minutes every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. At an expo held in Macau last May, world-famous soccer star David Beckham also showed interest by visiting the booth where the robobus was located.
According to the investment prospectus, WeRide recorded sales of 420 million yuan (about 78.3 billion won) last year. Sales in the first half of this year are expected to be 150 million yuan (about 28 billion won). Net losses are continuing due to large-scale R&D expenses. Last year, R&D expenses were 1.0584 billion yuan (about 197.5 billion won), and 517.2 million yuan (about 96.5 billion won) was invested in research in the first half of this year. As of the end of June, the number of employees was 2,227, of which more than 91% were artificial intelligence (AI) researchers and autonomous driving developers.
WeRide is preparing for the global launch of its robotaxi in October. The company stated, “The autonomous driving business is still in the early stages of commercialization,” but added, “We expect to see improved performance through the commercialization of robotaxi this year and next year.”
Reporter Jo Ara rrang123@hankyung.com
