On November 27th local time, Chinese autonomous driving company Xiaoma Zhixing went public on NASDAQ, becoming the first stock of Robotaxi. As of the close of the day, Xiaoma Zhixing closed at $12 per share, down 7.69% from its issue price of $13 per share.
Public information shows that Xiaoma Zhixing was founded in 2016 and is a provider of autonomous driving solutions. Since its establishment, Xiaoma Zhixing has completed 7 rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of over 1.3 billion US dollars. The investors include well-known investment institutions such as Sequoia China, IDG Capital, Wuyuan Capital, as well as well-known car companies such as Toyota and FAW Group.
After expanding its issuance scale, Komatsu issued a total of 23 million American depositary shares at $13 per share, raising $299 million, making it the largest IPO in the field of autonomous driving in the US stock market this year. Along with the simultaneous private placement of approximately $153.4 million worth of common stock, the total amount raised in this IPO by Komatsu Zhixing is approximately $452 million.
Chen Liteng, a digital life analyst at the NetEase E-commerce Research Center, believes that Xiaoma Zhixing has successfully raised $452 million in funding, which will provide guarantees for its technology research and development, market expansion, and talent introduction.
Guo Tao, a well-known Internet expert, said that Xiaoma Zhixing chose to conduct an IPO in the United States at this time for several main purposes. Firstly, going public can provide a significant amount of funding, which is crucial for the research and commercialization of autonomous driving technology. Secondly, by trading on the open market, Xiaoma Zhixing can enhance its brand's international recognition and credibility, attracting more partners and customers. In addition, as a high-tech company, entering the capital market also helps it attract and retain talent.
Data shows that Xiaoma Zhixing's total revenue exceeded 179 million US dollars in the first three quarters of 2022 to 2024. Among them, in the Robotaxi business field, the company's revenue increased from $68.39 million in 2022 to $71.8 million in 2023.
By the first half of 2024, Xiaoma Zhixing's business revenue reached 24.72 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 101.2%, with a net loss of 51.32 million US dollars. Among them, the revenue mainly comes from Robotruck services, which amounted to $18.035 million, accounting for 73% of the revenue; The revenue share of Robotaxi services has decreased from 13.1% in 2022 to 4.7% in the first half of 2024.
Industry insiders say that the advantage of Xiaoma Zhixing mainly lies in its technological strength. The company has a team of top engineers dedicated to the research and development of key technologies such as deep learning, sensor fusion, and map construction. In addition, Xiaoma Zhixing has accumulated rich experience in road testing in the field of autonomous driving and has established cooperative relationships with multiple car manufacturers.
It is understood that the core technology of Xiaoma Zhixing is a "virtual driver" suitable for different vehicle models and scenarios, providing technical solutions and product services to the market in the fields of autonomous driving travel services (Robotaxi), autonomous driving freight services (Robotruck), technology authorization and application services. At present, Xiaoma Zhixing's global autonomous driving road test mileage has accumulated nearly 40 million kilometers, including nearly 4 million kilometers of unmanned mileage.
In China, the market size of hundreds of billions of yuan and hundreds of millions of users for ride hailing services have become important scenarios for the commercialization of Robotaxi. Robotaxi, as a key development goal in the ride hailing industry, has attracted numerous companies to set up their presence. At present, companies in Robotaxiare Didi Chuxing, Xiangdao Chuxing, Caocao Chuxing, T3 Chuxing, Xiaoma Zhixing, Baidu Apollo Go, Wenyuan Zhixing, etc.
However, Xiaoma Zhixing also faces various challenges. Firstly, the competition in the field of autonomous driving is fierce, and domestic and foreign enterprises are actively researching and expanding their markets. Xiaoma Zhixing needs to continue to enhance its competitiveness. Secondly, the uncertainty of technical standards and regulatory policies may affect the company's development speed. Thirdly, the level of consumer acceptance of autonomous driving technology is also an important factor to consider, "said Guo Tao.
In addition, most companies in the autonomous driving industry are still operating at a loss. For example, Wenyuan Zhixing has accumulated losses of over 5.1 billion yuan from 2021 to the first half of 2024, while Black Sesame Intelligence has accumulated losses of over 10 billion yuan from 2021 to 2023.