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Chedongxi (Official Account: chedongxi)
Author: Janson
Editor｜Zhihao1. Three-year R&D investment of 2.26 billion yuan and gross profit margin of nearly 50% 2. Three-year financing of over 5 billion yuan and valuation of over 30 billion yuan 3. Business covers multiple fields and cooperation is extensive Conclusion: WeRide seeks rapid development

The first Chinese GM Intelligent Driving company to be listed in the US may be coming soon!

According to a report from AutoDongxi on July 27, just now, autonomous driving technology startup Weride submitted an IPO application to the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission).

WeRide is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq in the form of ADS, with the stock code tentatively set as "WRD".

▲WeRide IPO homepage

WeRide currently operates one of the world's largest autonomous driving fleets and continues to expand its L4 autonomous driving services in the travel, logistics and sanitation industries. Its vehicles are able to operate around the clock and in all weather conditions in dense urban environments.

In addition, WeRide's autonomous driving vehicles are undergoing test runs and commercial pilots in 30 countries and seven cities in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, making it one of the L4 autonomous driving companies with the most operating countries.

With the expansion of business scope and the increase in R&D investment, WeRide's financial information shows a significant growth trend from 2021 to 2023, accompanied by certain losses.

▲WeRide financial briefing

In three years, WeRide's revenue increased from 138.2 million yuan to 401.8 million yuan, while its losses increased from 1.0073 billion yuan to 1.9491 billion yuan.

It can be said that although its revenue-generating ability is constantly increasing, the "money-burning" nature of the autonomous driving business still forces WeRide to obtain more funds through listing and seek development.

In terms of financial performance, WeRide’s ability to generate revenue is still relatively good.

▲WeRide’s three-year financial information

From 2021 to 2023, WeRide achieved RMB 138.2 million, RMB 527.5 million and RMB 401.8 million respectively, with a total revenue of RMB 1.068 billion.

In terms of losses, WeRide lost 1.0073 billion yuan in 2021, which increased to 1.2985 billion yuan in 2022, and further increased to 1.9491 billion yuan in 2023.

This is equivalent to a loss of 4.25 billion in three years.

Such losses are most likely inseparable from its generous investment in research and development.

▲WeRide’s three-year R&D investment

At the same time, WeRide has also been very generous in its investment in research and development, having spent 2.26 billion yuan in the past three years.

The prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, WeRide's R&D expenses will be RMB 443.2 million, RMB 758.6 million and RMB 1.0584 billion respectively.

WeRide said that they will focus their R&D investment on testing, experimentation and commercialization of autonomous driving technology, expand their R&D team and invest more resources to enhance our technical capabilities.

At the same time, WeRide also promised that its R&D expenses will continue to increase.

▲WeRide’s gross profit information over the past three years

However, WeRide's gross profit margin is still quite strong.

Last year, WeRide's gross profit margin reached an astonishing 45.7%, and in 2021 and 2022 it was 37.4% and 44.1% respectively, an increase of nearly 20% in three years.

In terms of hematopoietic ability, according to the prospectus, WeRide's main sources of revenue are divided into two parts.

The first part is through the sale of L4 autonomous vehicles, which include robot buses, robot taxis, robot street sweepers and related sensor kits.

The second part is to provide L4 autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) services, covering autonomous driving operations, technical support services and ADAS R&D services.

Since 2020, the company has also provided Robotaxi services through the WeRide Go platform, and has used robot trucks to provide customers with autonomous driving freight services since 2023. This part of the business has begun to generate certain revenue and is included in service revenue.

Currently, the company is in the early stages of commercialization. As the commercialization of autonomous driving technology continues to advance, its revenue structure and the proportion of each revenue item may change.

It is reported that the company plans to start commercial production of Robotaxi in 2024 and 2025, respectively, and prepare for large-scale commercialization.

WeRide raised a total of approximately RMB 5.235 billion in financing activities in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

More than 90% of them were raised from 2021 to 2022.

It is worth noting that in 2023, the company raised 447 million yuan through the issuance of preferred shares and other redeemable financial instruments, accounting for about 8.5% of the three-year financing amount.

This may also be one of the reasons why WeRide is seeking to go public in 2024.

▲WeRide’s financing history (organized by Chedongxi based on public information)

Looking at WeRide’s 10 rounds of financing history, its total public financing amount has exceeded US$1.09 billion (approximately RMB 7.903 billion).

Among them, the 2018 Series A investment also included investments from celebrities in the automotive industry such as He Xiaopeng.

As of now, WeRide’s valuation has reached US$5.1 billion (approximately RMB 36.977 billion).

▲WeRide’s equity structure before IPO

Before its IPO, WeRide’s equity structure was basically as follows:

Founder and CEO Han Xu holds 7.6% of the shares and has 31% of the voting rights; Li Yan holds 6.3% of the shares and has 10.8% of the voting rights; Duane Ziping Kuang holds 8.5% of the shares and has 5.7% of the voting rights.

Among them, Han Xu, as the founder and CEO of WeRide, enjoys international reputation in the fields of computer vision and machine learning, and is at the forefront of the industry in the research and development and application of autonomous driving technology.

He has served as the chief scientist of autonomous driving at Baidu, and as a tenured professor and director of the Computer Vision and Machine Learning Laboratory at the University of Missouri. He also holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.

As of June 30, 2024, WeRide had 2,227 employees worldwide, including 2,027 employees engaged in R&D and related technical and engineering functions.

In terms of products, WeRide’s product line in the field of autonomous driving covers multiple aspects, demonstrating its comprehensive strength in software and hardware.

Currently, WeRide’s Robotaxi has provided paid services in three cities around the world. It is the first company to provide paid L4-level robot taxi services to the public and has been operating safely on open roads for four years.

▲WeRide Robotaxi

Secondly, WeRide's RoboBus will achieve commercial production in 2021 and provide services to the public in Guangzhou in 2022, becoming the world's first company to provide driverless Robobus services.

In addition, the company has developed an L4-level robot truck, which was launched in September 2021, to improve the efficiency of intra-city logistics.

In the cleaning field, WeRide has developed the world's first L4-level sweeping robot and has successfully carried out commercial pilots in Guangzhou and is testing it in nine cities.

▲WeRide unmanned sanitation vehicle

In terms of software, WeRide has cooperated with Bosch, leveraging its accumulated experience in L4 autonomous driving technology to provide advanced driver assistance systems covering a variety of driving scenarios.

The company's ADAS solutions have outstanding performance in terms of technological advantages, system safety and scalability, and are expected to maintain its leading position in the industry.

At the same time, WeRide has also had extensive cooperation with OEMs and Tier1s. It has established in-depth cooperative relationships with many top OEMs and Tier1 suppliers in the field of autonomous driving.

▲Strategic investor of WeRide

In addition, WeRide also provides L4 autonomous driving and ADAS R&D services to its partners.

Specifically, WeRide is working with Nissan to develop autonomous driving technology suitable for the Chinese market and has received investment from Alliance Ventures.

The collaboration with Groupe Renault accelerates the adoption of autonomous driving technology in public transportation in Europe.

Yutong and King Long, as commercial vehicle manufacturers, have cooperated with WeRide to produce self-driving buses and road sweepers respectively.

The collaboration with Jiangling Ford Motor Co., Ltd. is focused on manufacturing Level 4 autonomous driving robot trucks.

Hyundai Motor and WeRide have launched the world’s first hydrogen-powered autonomous vehicle pilot zone in Guangzhou.

Bosch is working with WeRide to provide ADAS solutions and has become one of its investors.

The cooperation between Geely Yuanjian New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group and WeRide aims to promote the commercial production of L4 autonomous driving vehicles.

In addition, WeRide has also cooperated with Baiyun Taxi Group and Guangzhou Public Transport Group Third Bus Co., Ltd. to promote the commercial operation of self-driving taxis and buses.

▲WeRide RoboBus

As a pilot customer, ZTO Express will integrate WeRide's driverless trucks into its logistics network.

In terms of technical cooperation, WeRide maintains close cooperation with NVIDIA and other SoC suppliers to ensure technical support and supply chain stability.

Johnson Electric provides support for specific electromechanical systems, while Lenovo Vehicle Computing supports the commercial application of autonomous driving.

These collaborations demonstrate WeRide’s active role in the global autonomous driving ecosystem and its progress in promoting the commercialization and market penetration of autonomous driving technology.

High-end intelligent driving is an industry that tests R&D capabilities and capital accumulation.

Although WeRide already has a certain level of hematopoietic capacity and a product gross profit margin of nearly 50%, under the current circumstances, it is also necessary to seek external capital intervention.

In addition, as the first domestic general intelligent driving company to go public in the United States, it itself has strong symbolic significance.