On February 9 Beijing Time, Hesai Technology ("Hesai"), a global leader in LiDAR technology and Qiming Venture Partners' portfolio company, began trading on Nasdaq. Hesai Technology (NASDAQ: HSAI) offered at $19/ADS and opened at $23.75/ADS, up by 25%, representing a market cap of $2.98 billion.
Dedicated to bridging frontier technology and social change, Qiming has a long-term focus on innovative progress in autonomous driving. Back in 2019, Qiming invested in Hesai Technology's Series C round of financing and followed on in its Series D round. Hesai Technology's successful listing marks Qiming's 3rd IPO in 2023.
Hesai Technology was founded in Shanghai in 2014. With the mission of "Empower Robotics, Elevate Lives", it has become a global leader in LiDAR technology for autonomous mobility and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). Hesai's LiDAR products enable a broad spectrum of applications across passenger and commercial vehicles with ADAS and autonomous vehicle fleets. Its technology also empowers robotics applications such as last-mile delivery robots and logistics robots in restricted areas.
Hesai's innovative products are backed by superior R&D capabilities across optics, mechanics, electronics, and software, with hundreds of patents globally and record-breaking self-developed chips, functional safety, active anti-interference technologies, etc. It integrates LiDAR designs with an in-house manufacturing process, facilitating rapid product development while ensuring high performance, consistent quality and affordability. The company currently provides solutions for global major autonomous driving companies and top automobile manufacturers, and robotics companies, covering 40 countries and over 90 cities around the world.
As an industry leader, Hesai has an edge on both delivery volume and revenue scale. As of 2022, the cumulative deliveries exceeded 103,000 units, making Hesai the first vehicle LiDAR company in the world to reach the 100,000 level. It is also one of the few companies to start delivering LiDAR products in volume to automotive OEMs, setting a global record of over 10,000 units delivered per month. According to a Frost & Sullivan report, Hesai is the global leader in the autonomous mobility LiDAR market by 2021 with approximately 60% of the global market share.
Li Yifan, Co-founder and CEO of Hesai Technology, said, "At Hesai, our vision is to empower the future of robotics with high performance LiDAR solutions that elevate lives and make the world a better, safer and more efficient place for everyone."
"Qiming is honored to accompany Hesai's growth and delighted to see its IPO on Nasdaq, a milestone and a new beginning for the company. We look forward to seeing more exciting technology and product innovations from Hesai to help promote the wider adoption of autonomous driving," said Duane Kuang, Founding Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners. "As the global automotive industry moves to cleaner and smarter vehicles, the industry landscape will continue to evolve. We see many interesting investment opportunities in the intelligent and autonomous driving value chain. Qiming will continue to support entrepreneurs to innovate in these exciting and growing areas."
