On October 25th, 2024, Beijing Time, WeRide, a world-leading autonomous driving company and Qiming Venture Partners' portfolio company, began trading on Nasdaq. This marks a historic milestone as both the world's first pure-play autonomous driving company to go public and the first publicly listed Robotaxi company. WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD) offered at $15.5/ADS, representing a market cap of $4.3 billion.
Qiming Venture Partners, a leading venture firm committed to frontier technology investments, has long recognized the transformative potential of autonomous driving technology for society. As the earliest and largest financial investor in WeRide, Qiming has played a pivotal role in the company's growth, participating in its Series Seed, A, and B funding rounds since 2017.
Established in 2017, WeRide aims to develop safe and reliable autonomous driving solutions. The company is the only tech company in the world that simultaneously holds autonomous driving permits in China, the UAE, Singapore, the US, conducting autonomous driving R&D, tests and operations in over 30 cities of 7 countries around the world. WeRide has operated a self-driving fleet for more than 1,700 days.
As the pioneer in autonomous driving technologies with applications in the passenger transportation, intra-city delivery and urban sanitation industries, WeRide offers an all-rounded product mix of Robotaxi, Robobus, Robovan, Robosweeper, and Advanced Driving solution.
With rich experience in autonomous driving R&D, commercialization and operation, WeRide has forged strong alliances with world-class vehicle manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers, logistics and urban service providers and others, including Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, Yutong Group, BOSCH, GAC Group, etc. Currently, WeRide has demonstrated its leadership in the commercialization of autonomous driving technology. According to China Insights Consultancy, WeRide is the first autonomous driving company in the world to accumulate 10,000 purpose-built L4 autonomous driving vehicle intent orders, and the only autonomous driving company to achieve mass production of an ADAS solution within 18 months into development, the quickest among its peers.
WeRide has developed the highly compatible autonomous driving solution platform, WeRide One, which constitutes a full stack of industry-leading application software, a flexible set of hardware and a comprehensive infrastructure software platform. This approach seamlessly connects the entire lifecycle of autonomous driving products, from R&D through deployment to application. The platform is designed to enable scalable implementation of WeRide's technology across a diverse range of products and scenarios.
Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide, stated, "Since its inception, WeRide has been dedicated to transforming urban living with autonomous driving. We are grateful to Qiming Venture Partners for choosing to stand by us during the early stages of WeRide's development, offering long-term support up to the milestone we celebrate today. The IPO marks a new beginning for the company's growth. Moving forward, WeRide will continue to adhere to its path of productizing technology and commercializing products, bringing safe, comfortable, and convenient autonomous driving technologies, products, and services to users in more countries and regions."
Duane Kuang, Founding Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners, stated, "As the earliest investor in WeRide, we're proud to have witnessed the company's transformation from a concept into an industry leader. Over the years, the WeRide team has demonstrated remarkable resilience and commitment to using their world-class autonomous driving technology to improve the world. This IPO represents a significant milestone and the beginning of a new chapter for WeRide. We are confident in WeRide's continued innovation and its role in accelerating the development of autonomous driving applications for the benefit of humanity. Qiming remains dedicated to supporting visionary companies like WeRide in the smart mobility sector and its ecosystem."
