Chinese startup WeRide files for U.S. IPO

As part of the offering, the firm will offer 6.5 million American depositary shares in a price range of $15.5 to $18.5 apiece, raising up to $119.4 million

Chinese self-driving startup WeRide has filed for a $119.4 million IPO on Nasdaq and a private placement of $320.5 million, according to a term sheet accessed by Reuters on Wednesday.

As part of the offering, the Guangzhou-based firm will offer 6.5 million American depositary shares in a price range of $15.5 to $18.5 apiece, raising up to $119.4 million. It also plans to raise nearly $320.5 million in a concurrent private placement.

The autonomous driving startup had in August said it would seek a valuation of as much as $5.02 billion as part of its initial public offering, at a time when the Biden administration was expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous vehicles in the U.S.

The firm was granted approval last year by China’s securities regulator for a U.S. listing.

It was founded in Silicon Valley in 2017 and later incorporated in the Cayman Islands. It then launched a robotaxi service in Guangzhou, China, in 2019.

Investors had been closely awaiting WeRide’s potential listing to look for signs of pickup for Chinese initial public offerings in the U.S.

Chinese initial public offerings in the U.S. had dried up in the past couple of years, after ride-hailing giant Didi Global was forced to delist in 2022 following backlash from Chinese regulators.

The initial public offering would be one of the biggest U.S. listing by a Chinese company since Didi’s in 2021. It would be the second major China-based firm to seek U.S. listing this year. In May, electric-vehicle maker Zeekr debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).