WeRide Inc. (WRD) Announces August 19th IPO

WeRide Inc. (WRD) is planning to raise $110 million in an initial public offering (IPO) on the week of August 19th, IPO Scoop reports. The company will be issuing 6,500,000 shares at a price of $15.50-$18.50 per share.

In the last year, WeRide Inc. generated $55.3 million in revenue and had a net loss of $268.2 million. WeRide Inc. has a market-cap of $4.9 billion.

Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and CICC served as the underwriters for the IPO and ABCI, BNP Paribas and Tiger Brokers were co-managers.

WeRide Inc. provided the following description of their company for its IPO: “Our Mission: To transform urban living with autonomous driving. (Incorporated in the Cayman Islands) We believe WeRide’s autonomous driving technology is among the most advanced and commercially proven in the world, designed to cater to a broad spectrum of scenarios from urban environments to highways. Empowered by the smart, versatile, cost-effective and highly adaptable WeRide One platform, WeRide provides autonomous driving products and services from L2 to L4, addressing the vast majority of transportation needs across the widest range of use cases on open road, including in mobility, logistics, and sanitation industries. WeRide is the most commercially successful L4 autonomous driving company globally as measured by commercialization revenue in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In September 2023, WeRide earned a prestigious position among the Top 10 on Fortune Magazine’s “2023 Change the World” list. This recognition highlights our profound impact on society and the global environment through groundbreaking innovations and sustainable business practices, placing us alongside industry giants like Tesla and General Motors. WeRide is a global leader and a first mover in the autonomous driving industry. WeRide has achieved many first-of-its-kind milestones:   •   First autonomous driving company in the world with products operating and testing in 30 cities across seven countries;   •   The only autonomous driving company in the world to obtain test permits for autonomous driving vehicles in four countries;   •   First company in the world to offer paid L4 robotaxi services to the public with the longest operation track record;   •   First company in the world to develop a purpose-built L4 robobus designed for open road, as well as the first to launch driverless robobus services on open road to the public;   •   First company in the world to develop an L4 robovan dedicated to intra-city delivery of goods and to obtain test driving permit for the robovan on open roads;   •   First company in the world to develop a purpose-built L4 robosweeper designed for open road as well as the first to launch driverless robosweeper urban cleaning services;   •   First autonomous driving company in the world to accumulate 10,000 purpose-built L4 autonomous driving vehicle orders, and the most advanced in commercialization milestones across industries; and   •   The only autonomous driving company to achieve mass production of an ADAS solution within 18 months into development, the quickest among peers. From Day One, we decided to tackle the challenges of commercial viability, practicability and scalability of autonomous driving. We believe innovation does not flourish in a vacuum, but rather must be applied in real world settings. Therefore, we embarked on a relentless pursuit of product and service offerings that are deployable, rather than experimental, commercializable, rather than conceptual, with the commitment to delivering premium products and services for our customers in various industries. This was not an easy path, but has been proven to be the right one. We endeavor to unlock the true power of autonomous driving by building our WeRide One platform, our foundation model and business backbone empowered by advanced smart models and our unparalleled experience from open-road operations. Our diverse fleet of L4 autonomous driving vehicles across full-range use cases serve as the strongest testimony to the versatility, reliability and commercial readiness of our technology. Our industry-leading WeRide One platform is highly universal and scalable, facilitating easy deployment across various vehicle types and applications under different urban environments. Furthermore, leveraging our AI capabilities, we further empowered our platform through our latest end-to-end smart models, which excel in complex perception, prediction, and planning tasks with great efficiency. Our powerful and versatile analytical capabilities embedded within the WeRide One platform have been instrumental to us in building our own smart models and providing additional value-added services to our existing Tier-1 suppliers. Our technological advancement has successfully created a flywheel effect where it allows us to efficiently maintain our leading position with disciplined resource investment. In addition, we have been accelerating the commercialization of our technology by forging strategic alliances with our ecosystem partners, including world-class vehicle OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, logistics and urban service providers, among many other key stakeholders across the industry.  Today, WeRide operates one of the world’s largest autonomous driving fleets and has been delivering and expanding its provision of L4 autonomous driving services, including in the mobility, logistics and sanitation industries. Its L4 autonomous driving vehicles are capable of navigating dense urban environments, operating all day and under all weather conditions. Its capabilities to operate autonomous driving vehicles under all weather conditions and environments are evidenced by its global presence and accident-free track record. WeRide’s autonomous driving vehicles are test running and conducting commercial pilots in 30 cities and seven countries across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. WeRide is the L4 autonomous driving company with operations in the most countries. Its leadership in L4 autonomous driving technology has also positioned it well for the development of cutting-edge ADAS solutions, where it partners with Bosch, the world’s largest Tier 1 supplier by market share, and has successfully commercialized a state-of-the-art ADAS solution. Note: Net loss and revenue are in U.S. dollars (converted from China’s renminbi) for the year that ended Dec. 31, 2023. (Note: WeRide postponed its IPO on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, ahead of  pricing, which had been expected tonight. WeRide is now expected to price its IPO sometime next week – during the  week of Aug.19, 2024.) (Note: WeRide filed an F-1/A on Aug. 9, 2024, and disclosed the terms for its IPO: 6.45 million American Depositary Shares (6,452,000 ADS) at a price range of $15.50 to $18.50 to raise $109.68 million. Each ADS equals three Class A ordinary shares. Background: WeRide filed its F-1 on July 26, 2024, without disclosing the terms for its IPO. Estimated proceeds are $100 million, a placeholder figure.) “.

WeRide Inc. was founded in 2017 and has 2227 employees. The company is located at 21st Floor, Tower A, Guanzhou Life Science Innovation Center, No. 51, Luoxuan Road, Guangzhou International Biotech Island, Guangzhou 510005 People’s Republic of China and can be reached via phone at +86 (20) 2909-3388 or on the web at https://www.weride.ai/.