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WeRide , a Chinese independent vehicle company , is formally gearing up for a U.S. public first appearance , over a year after China start up relieve itseffective banof foreign initial offering . The company is seeking a valuation as high as $ 5.02 billion in its initial public offering .
WeRide expects to raise about $ 96 million from its oblation , or $ 111.3 million if its insurer practise their over - apportioning option in full , take an IPO share damage of $ 17 per American Depository Share ( ADS ) . The troupe is offering 6.45 million ADSs at a price range of $ 15.50 and $ 18.50 per share , so it could even raise as much as $ 119.4 million in the initial offering .
On top of that , certain investor have already consort to buy share deserving $ 320.5 million in a concurrent private placement . For example , Alliance Ventures , the venture arm of the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance , has agree to buy $ 97 million worth of shares . Other investors admit JSC International Investment Fund , Get Ride , and Beijing Minghong , concord to aregulatory filing .
The filing comes afterBloomberg reportedthat WeRide is seeking up to $ 400 million in its IPO and private placement , citing sources familiar with the matter . About $ 100 million of that would come from the initial public offering and around $ 200 million to $ 300 million in the emplacement .
WeRide did not reply in time to comment .
If and when WeRide fail public , this will be the large initial offering by a Taiwanese company on the U.S. breed market sinceGeely - owned luxury EV startup Zeekrbegan sell portion on the New York Stock Exchange in May . Zeekr ’s stock has fallen 48 % since its debut .
WeRide ab initio filed confidentially to go public in the U.S. in March 2023 . The AV company hasraiseda total of $ 1.39 billion at a $ 5.11 billion rating , per PitchBook data . But WeRide has n’t lift a private round since 2022 , and VCs have pulled back from pen large checks for self-governing fomite companies with foresighted road to lucrativeness . If WeRide desire to scale and stay free-enterprise , it ’ll need to get to the public markets .
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The company holds permit to work autonomously in China , the UAEandSingapore . It also has permits to try with a number one wood and without a driver in California , and is actively test in San Jose . apart from a publicly accessible robotaxi mathematical operation , WeRide is working on a driverless robobus , robovan ( for goodness delivery ) and robosweeper . The companionship also offers forward-looking gadget driver assistance organisation and plan to trade them to OEMs .
WeRide ’s revenue for the first six month of 2024 was $ 20.7 million , which is lower than the first half of 2023 ’s tax revenue of about $ 25.5 million , according to a regulatory filing . That ’s on a loss of $ 121.3 million for the first one-half of 2024 , and of $ 100.9 million in the first half of 2023 .
Per WeRide ’s filing , the companionship design to drop 35 % of the proceeds from its IPO on R&D ; 30 % on commercialization and operation of its autonomous driving fleet , as well as marketing action to exposit to fresh mart ; 25 % on capital expenditure like the purchase of test vehicles ; and the remaining 10 % for general corporate purposes .
WeRide is n’t the only Chinese AV fellowship that ’s looking to try its hazard on the U.S. market . Pony.ai , one of its main competitors , is alsoreportedlypreparing for a U.S. initial offering again , after its previous try precipitate apart in 2021 . Pony was eyeball a public debut at a $ 12 billion valuation through a SPAC uniting , butput it on holdas it struggle to arrive at assurances from Beijing that it would n’t become a target of a crackdown against Taiwanese firms going public on foreign exchange .
This article has been updated to include WeRide ’s estimated valuation , the total amount it skip to raise , and information about investment from individual placement . This clause was originally write August 9 at 10:15 am PT .
