Nio, a Chinese electric car manufacturer, has submitted its prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today. The firm is seeking to raise up to US$1.8b in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol ‘NIO’.
Prior to this, the Shanghai-based firm has secured more than US$2.4b over six financing rounds from backers like Tencent, Joy Capital, Baidu Inc, Sequoia Capital amongst others. Currently, Li Bin, the founder and chairman of Nio, is the largest shareholder, holding 17.2% of the total number of shares, with Tencent next in line holding another 15.2%.
Established in 2014, this Shanghai-based firm launched its first all-electric ES8, a seven-seater vehicle in China at the end of 2017 at half the price of Tesla’s Model X, and is only bringing in revenue from H1 2018. According to its prospectus, 481 units of ES8 have been sold, with more than 17,000 reservations.
The lower-cost ES5 sport-utility vehicle and ET7 Sedan are some examples of the other vehicles in the pipeline, to be launched in 2019, and 2020 respectively, signalling the plan to be releasing new models every year from now.
Nio’s IPO filing comes following the recent close of Alibaba-backed Xiaopeng Motor’s Series B financing round. China’s electric vehicle sector is expected to see greater competition, particularly with Elon Musk’s Nasdaq-listed Tesla Inc. seeking to build a factory with an annual production capacity of 50,000 cars in China.
An account by Reuters also indicates that two more Chinese electric vehicle-sharing platforms – Zhejiang Geely-backed Caocao Zhuanche, a chauffeur ride-hailing platform and SAIC Motor-backed EvCard – are respectively seeking to raise up to RMB 3b (US$437 million)Â at a $3b valuation and RMB 2b (US$292 million).
Baidu-backed WM Motor Technology is another player in China’s electric vehicle space that has raised significant funding from major investors. Recent developments have seen Beijing promote the new energy vehicle (NEV) sector in a bid to reduce pollution and boost cutting-edge technology.
This push for IPO also coincides with Nio’s burgeoning net losses. Despite revenue growth in H1 2018, the firm’s net loss for the second quarter of 2018 ballooned by a further 17.3% to RMB 1.794b (US$247m) from its previous quarter. Nio’s filing revealed that the firm made a net loss of US$ 502.6m.
Editor: Shiwen Yap
