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Toyota - backed autonomous vehicle company Pony AI has joined the list of Formosan business firm going public on the U.S. stock certificate market after a multi - yearban from Beijingon seaward capital raising .
Zeekr , a luxury Formosan electric vehicle inauguration , debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in May , and WeRide , another Ab inauguration , also hop to lodge an IPO in the U.S. this twelvemonth at a$5 billion valuation , but its architectural plan havebeen delayedas of August .
Pony wasvalued at $ 8.5 billionwhen it evoke working capital in 2022 . Toyota take part in that turn as a follow - on investor after injecting the inauguration with $ 400 million in 2020 , per PitchBook data . The Japanese auto manufacturer ’s stake in Pony is at 13.4 % . The Taiwanese AV startup has since secured$100 million from Saudi Arabia ’s Neomin 2023 and $ 27 million from Chinese VC GAC Capital in October .
But the filing to go public let out that Pony ’s board of directors late jactitate the minimal valuation for its initial offering down to $ 4 billion . Pony also dropped its minimum target for what it desire to parent in the transaction from $ 425 million to just $ 200 million .
That ’s not all that stand out inPony ’s IPO filing , though , so here are our top four takeaways .
Modest fleet and operations
IPO filings are chock - full of issue that were either antecedently obscure or lacking context of use , and Pony ’s is no elision .
The company tell it operate a fleet of 190 “ robotrucks ” in Beijing and Guangzhou , and over 250 robotaxis in Beijing , Guangzhou , Shenzhen , and Shanghai . It can institutionalize for robotaxi fare in all four city and is full driverless in Beijing , Guangzhou , and Shenzhen .
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On the robotaxi side , Pony says it receives an average of 15 casual ordering per robotaxi from the 220,000 read exploiter on the PonyPilot app . Overall it sound out it has accumulated more than 20 million “ sovereign driving miles , ” though just 2.4 million of those had no human driver behind the wheel .
Pony complement its robotaxi service with a spring up robotruck business . It says it has already acquired 57 corporate customer — account for 73 % of total revenue in the first one-half of this year . But the bulk of that money is coming from Pony ’s top three customers , who generated 62.8 % of full revenues during the same geological period .
Revenue up and to the right?
It ’s no enigma that self-directed vehicle are a high-priced business . And while Pony says it generated gross profits of $ 32 million and $ 17 million in 2022 and 2023 , respectively , the company lose more than $ 270 million over those years .
A huge driver of those losses has been Pony ’s R&D spend . apprehensible , give that Pony is a company develop groundbreaker technology , involving an extremely sensor - sullen autonomous stack . But we marvel when Pony is choke to really prioritise operations over R&D. As of June 30 , the startup ’s workforce of around 1,300 employee is 44 % R&D , 16 % engineering deployment and production , and only 28.5 % operations . It spend $ 73 million on R&D employee salaries alone in 2023 and fetch up the first one-half of this year with $ 335 million in cash .
Pony project it will bring in a lot more money in the coming years , peculiarly as robotaxi fares increment . But it sounds less optimistic about bringing the costs down , because in the filing it does not say it have a bun in the oven the cost of that taxation to minify over time — only that those costs will “ keep to develop in the near futurity . ”
Now , Pony ’s revenue did almost double to $ 24.7 million in the first one-half of 2024 when compare to the same time period last twelvemonth . It has also pared its losses year - over - twelvemonth in the first one-half . But while it looks like Pony ’s tax income is locomote up and to the right if we reckon only at the first half of the year , the company still has a long way to go if it go for to circumvent 2023 ’s total tax income of $ 71.9 million .
SIXTY. PAGES. OF. RISK.
Every company needs to lay out the risks associated with the business concern when they go public . But damn it all if Pony was n’t incredibly exhaustive with 60 pages ’ worth of disclaimers .
One of its main hazard ? It ’s derive off a deficit of sufficiently skilled staff with knowledge of U.S. GAAP ( generally have accountancy principles ) to ensure right conformity with SEC requirements .
While Pony says it has fixed this weakness as of the end of 2023 , there is very late grounds that show how substantial a risk this can be to a young job — Fisker . That EV startup ’s nosedive into bankruptcy was , in with child part , triggered by it missing the deadline to fileits third - quarter financial results last yr .
There ’s also the previous People ’s Republic of China conundrum — somethingZeekr is conversant with . We ’ll let Pony say it : “ The PRC regulatory confidence have significant superintendence over our line and may influence our surgical operation as they view as appropriate to further economical , regulative , political and social goals . ”
Moving on , Pony included aslightrisk of not being able to continue its extremely modified robotaxi examination in the U.S. due to impendingregulations against Taiwanese affiliated vehicles . The startup has a permission to examine Ab with a driver behind the wheel in California , but it says its process in the U.S. generated “ less than 1 % of our total revenues in 2023 and the six months terminate June 30 , 2024 . ”
Pony paints a pretty picture
We are now a few eld take away from the special design acquisition fusion craze that allowed startup to make horrific projections about their businesses . Remember when Faraday Futureprojectedit would sell more than 100,000 eV in 2024 ? It ’s sold roughly 13 to escort .
This is a traditional initial public offering , so Pony does n’t have near as much license to be so unhinged with its projections . Still , Pony indulges in some ego - blandish imagery of what its engineering is up to of that we ’d be remiss not to share with you .
“ On the public roads of China ’s urban center , Pony has achieved what was once only depicted in science fiction — building a machine that drives itself , ” the society writes . “ Passengers , all-inclusive - eyed with wonder , unlock the door using the app and climb into the back seat . ”
“ ill-treat out of the railroad car , the passenger make up the fare through the app and resolve this awe - exalt drive . Meanwhile , the robotaxi beat back itself away to pick up the next passenger , lead one to ponder what other marvels the future carry . ”
Wide - eyed , indeed .
chastisement : A premature version of this article did not accurately present the metropolis in which Pony AI offers fully driverless and commercial ridehail services in China .
