Minii Technology, a Chinese autonomous driving technology company backed by Alibaba Group Holding CEO Eddie Wu Yongming, has applied to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the latest mainland Chinese autonomous driving technology company to seek a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The company had raised at least 17 rounds of funding before filing its prospectus on May 27. It was seeking to raise US$150 million, according to the International Financial Review. The company did not disclose its target valuation, saying only that it exceeded the market capitalization it had sought at the time of listing of HK$4 billion (US$512 million).
Wu, the owner of the South China Morning Post and co-founder of Alibaba, is one of the company's most prominent backers: He gave himself a 2.3% stake in the company in 2019 after transferring 30.6 million yuan ($4.2 million) worth of shares, four years after an angel investment of 4.5 million yuan, according to the prospectus.
Minii Technology exhibit at the 2023 Shanghai International Automotive Industry Exhibition. Photo: Handout
The startup's corporate backers include investment firms such as Beijing Think Management, Shenzhen Zeyi and China International Capital.
Founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Liu Guoqing, who earned his PhD in computer science from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University in 2013, Minieye has supported 29 automakers with autonomous driving solutions up to Level 2, where the system can control steering and acceleration but requires driver supervision, similar to Tesla's Autopilot.
Last year, Minieye sold more than 780 million units of its intelligent driving solutions.
The company's revenue reached 476 million yuan last year, growing at an annual rate of 64.9% over three years. Revenues for 2022 and 2021 are expected to be 279 million yuan and 175 million yuan, respectively.
But the company has yet to turn a profit in the 10 years since it was founded, with losses of 139 million yuan last year, an improvement from 221 million yuan in 2022 and 207 million yuan in 2021.
As the company prepares to go public, it has been reducing its research and development costs as a percentage of revenue.
Last year's research and development expenses of 150 million yuan were up about 8% from 139 million yuan the year before, and fell to 31.5% of sales from 49.9% in 2022. Research and development expenses in 2021 were 82.2 million yuan, or 46.9% of sales, according to the prospectus.
Hong Kong has proven an attractive destination for mainland Chinese autonomous driving companies looking to enter international markets. iMotion Automotive Technology, based in Suzhou, west of Shanghai, was the first Chinese autonomous driving company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December.
Since then, other companies in the world's largest auto market have also looked south for initial public offerings, including Beijing-based Horizon Robotics, self-driving chipmaker Black Sesame Technologies and Shanghai-based Zhongmu Technology.
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