news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Travel platforms that have successfully listed recently include Didi Chuxing, which submitted its application five times and took nearly four years to succeed, and Ruqi Travel, an industry rising star known as the "first Robotaxi stock"; platforms queuing up for listing include Cao Cao Travel, which has submitted an IPO prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and Xiangdao Travel and T3 Travel, which are planning to launch IPOs.

At the same time, with the continuous breakthroughs in autonomous driving and the gradual improvement of business models, domestic mainstream travel platforms such as Didi, Cao Cao, T3, and Ruqi have all anchored the Robotaxi track, trying to enhance their own competitiveness through technological innovation, thereby breaking the industry's homogeneous competition pattern.

It seems that the reason why online ride-hailing platforms are accelerating their pace of listing is that their main business has not yet escaped from the loss situation, and their new autonomous driving business requires investment, so they are short of money.

Online ride-hailing is in a state of internal competition and is moving forward with a heavy burden

Although the number of users and market share of online ride-hailing platforms continue to grow, profitability issues have always plagued the industry. Take Ruqi Travel as an example. It took only five years from its establishment to its IPO. During these five years, Ruqi Travel has expanded in scale and increased in revenue, but it has not yet achieved profitability.

According to the prospectus of Ruqi Travel, from 2021 to the end of 2023, the operating income will be 1.014 billion yuan, 1.368 billion yuan, and 2.161 billion yuan, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 46%. The losses will be 685 million yuan, 627 million yuan, and 693 million yuan, respectively, with a cumulative loss of 2 billion yuan in three years.

The reason for the loss is that when Ruqi Travel entered the market, there were already many strong competitors, such as Didi Travel, Cao Cao Travel, etc. These old online car-hailing platforms have already occupied most of the market share. If Ruqi Travel wants to gain a foothold in this environment, it must invest a lot of resources in market development.

On the one hand, long-term subsidies to users and drivers have squeezed the profit margins of the platform. From 2021 to 2023, Ruqi Travel subsidized drivers and passengers, spending a total of 1.58 billion yuan. Among them, subsidies to passengers accounted for the majority, totaling 1.15 billion yuan in three years, with an average reward of 5.78 yuan, 5.62 yuan and 5.28 yuan per order respectively.

On the other hand, fines and R&D expenses are also ferocious "money-eating beasts". From 2021 to 2023, R&D expenses of Ruqi Travel were approximately 117 million yuan, 107 million yuan and 119 million yuan respectively; fines were 821,000 yuan, 775,000 yuan and 1.133 million yuan respectively, totaling about 2.7 million yuan.

Competition in the online car-hailing industry is becoming increasingly fierce, and the phenomenon of "involution" is becoming more and more obvious. Ruqi Travel is moving forward with heavy burdens. Ruqi Travel officials admitted in their financial reports that they expect to continue to incur net losses and operating net cash outflows in 2024, 2025 and 2026. In this context, seeking capital support is the only way to break the deadlock.

The listing price fell, no surprises

In 2023, the prospectus submitted by Ruqi Travel attracted considerable attention. One of the important factors was that Ruqi Travel was the first online car-hailing company to talk about the grand vision of "autonomous driving and technological services".

On July 10, Ruqi Mobility was successfully listed in Hong Kong, with an offering price of HK$35 per share and a net proceeds of approximately HK$969.2 million from the global offering, becoming the "first autonomous driving operation technology stock" as expected. However, on the first day of listing, Ruqi Mobility fell below the issue price, closing at HK$30 per share.

Looking back at Ruqi Travel's financing journey, it can be said that it was smooth sailing, but the fact that it fell below the IPO price upon listing also reflects investors' lack of confidence in Ruqi Travel. It is true that Ruqi Travel has demonstrated strong competitiveness and told a beautiful story of autonomous driving online ride-hailing, but the business of online ride-hailing has always been difficult to satisfy the capital market.

First, the road to the IPO of online ride-hailing platforms is very bumpy, and many of them ended up with a drop in the IPO price. For example, Didi Chuxing was rejected by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange twice, and Dida Chuxing also submitted its application five times before going public with a drop in the IPO price.

Secondly, the capital market has doubts about the business model and profitability of online ride-hailing services. After competing at low prices to gain market share, the online ride-hailing industry has not brought ideal profits, and many investors are worried about whether this business model can continue to make profits.

Furthermore, there are many uncertainties in the global economic situation, and most investors are cautious about the current economy. Now is not the best time to seek a listing.

However, from the perspective of Ruqi Travel itself, listing in Hong Kong is just the beginning. After opening up the listing channel and obtaining more financial support, accelerating the layout of the Robotaxi market is the key to getting out of the quagmire of losses.

Robotaxi, the big move, has not yet taken off

If Ruqi Travel is participating in a marathon of technological travel, then the Robotaxi business is equivalent to an important supply station along the way. If the Robotaxi business can flourish, it will replenish and sustain Ruqi Travel's technological travel strategy.

As we all know, when Ruqi Travel was founded, the online car-hailing market was already a red ocean. In order to avoid direct competition with industry giants, Ruqi Travel chose a differentiation strategy as its way of survival. Focusing on the Greater Bay Area market is one of its strategies, and laying out the autonomous driving track is the other.

Now, Ruqi Travel's Robotaxi business has begun to take shape. Public data shows that as of December 31, 2023, Ruqi Travel's Robotaxi service has been in operation for a total of 20,080 hours, covering 545 stations and completing approximately 450,000 kilometers of safe trial operation mileage.

Ruqi Travel, which was once unknown, dared to enter the "no man's land" of Robotaxi, and it has its own confidence.

On the one hand, Ruqi Travel's investors include Tencent, Didi, and Pony.ai, which have rich technologies and resources, providing strong support for Ruqi Travel's Robotaxi business. It is understood that a total of 281 vehicles are connected to the Ruqi Robotaxi operating platform, of which 35 are owned by Ruqi Travel, and the rest are owned by partners such as Pony.ai and GAC R&D Center.

On the other hand, as the world's first hybrid operation model of manned online car-hailing and Robotaxi, Ruqi Travel has a first-mover advantage. This will help Ruqi Travel gain a competitive advantage in the Robotaxi field and is expected to promote the further expansion of its business scale.

However, Ruqi Travel's Robotaxi business is still in the trial commercialization stage, and the revenue effect in the short term remains to be seen. In the prospectus, Robotaxi revenue is classified as "other" sector, including Robotaxi services, ride-sharing services, marketing and promotion services. In 2023, the sector's revenue is 2 million yuan, accounting for 0.1% of the total revenue.

It can only be said that the "big move" of Ruqi Travel, Robotaxi, has not yet taken off. Next, it may continue to conduct pilots and small-scale operations to accumulate experience and gradually solve related problems, and finally achieve large-scale commercialization. As shown in the prospectus, about 40% of the funds raised will be used for research and development activities of autonomous driving and Robotaxi operation services, which is the largest use of funds.

Paving the way for the next decade

It is an inevitable trend for online ride-hailing services to move towards autonomous driving. Especially after "Robot Kuaipao" swept the online ride-hailing market, the Robotaxi industry is also accelerating its development. In the near future, online ride-hailing services will fully enter the era of autonomous driving.

It is understood that in the first quarter of this year, Robotaxi supplied about 826,000 autonomous driving orders, with cumulative orders exceeding 6 million. In addition, according to Frost & Sullivan, the total size of the Robotaxi global market is expected to reach 810.4 billion yuan in 2030.

The more mature the industry is, the greater the value it generates. The rapid growth of the Robotaxi market will promote the rapid development of related industrial chains, which is both an opportunity and a challenge.

For Ruqi Travel, the first move to enter the Robotaxi market is to gain a differentiated advantage and a broader future for itself, and to follow the trend to pave the way for the next decade. However, the Robotaxi market is destined to be a bloody storm, and Ruqi Travel has a long way to go.

The online car-hailing market is full of brave players, and the competition in the Robotaxi field is fierce. In China, leading companies in the field such as LoBo, Didi, and GAC are accelerating their layout. Abroad, technology giants such as Tesla and Waymo are also constantly making new moves, and the Robotaxi storm is brewing.

In addition, despite the significant progress in autonomous driving technology, it will take some time for the commercialization of Robotaxi to reach full maturity and high reliability. In particular, technology, policy, practical application and consumer education all need further exploration and improvement.

In short, Ruqi Travel's online ride-hailing business is under pressure and it urgently needs to open up a gap and tell a new story, so it has strategically entered the Robotaxi field, but the internal competition of Robotaxi is inevitable, and it still takes time to verify whether it can win.