Chinese startup WeRide postpones US IPO

The market was waiting for WeRide to price the IPO, with the company planning to offer nearly 6.5 million American depositary shares (ADS) at a price range of $15.50 to $18.50 each. WeRide was to be listed on Nasdaq, under the symbol "WRD", with Morgan Stanley being the major underwriter of the initial public offering.

Backers of the company's IPO include Mubadala, GAC Capital and Qiming Venture Partners.

According to CNBC, WeRide motivated the delay of the IPO by citing the need for more time to complete the listing documents. "Updating the transaction documents is currently taking longer than expected, and WeRide is working to finalize the documentation necessary to proceed with the offer," the company announced.

WeRide was founded in Silicon Valley in 2017, and in 2019 launched a robotaxi service in Guangzhou, China. The company filed for listing on Nasdaq in July. WeRide was most recently valued at about $5.11 billion and raised $1.39 billion from investors, according to Pitchbook data cited by CNBC. These investors include German auto parts maker Robert Bosch, Chinese carmaker GAC Group, investment arm of Japanese car company Nissan Motor (Alliance Ventures), Mitsubishi Motors - also from Japan, French carmaker Renault Group and US chip designer Nvidia. Financial investors include Qiming Venture Partners and IDG Capital, according to scmp.com.

If completed, however, WeRide's IPO would be one of the largest listings by a Chinese company in the U.S., after ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing's 2021 offering.

WeRide reported a net loss of 881.7 million yuan ($123.04 million) for the half-year ended June 30, 2024, compared with 723.1 million yuan in the same period in 2023. Revenue was 150.3 million yuan for the period, compared to 182.9 million yuan in the previous year.