A Pony.ai AION robotic taxi is displayed in the course of the twenty first Shanghai Worldwide Car Trade Exhibition on the Nationwide Exhibition and Conference Middle in Shanghai on April 23, 2025.
Wang Zhao | Afp | Getty Photos
Autonomous driving companies Pony.ai and WeRide have acquired approval from China’s securities regulator for secondary listings in Hong Kong, as the businesses look to boost funds and proceed their world enlargement.
The China Securities Regulatory Fee introduced Tuesday that each corporations had filed to difficulty and listing shares in Hong Kong. Chinese language corporations looking for a international itemizing are required to file an software with the CSRC upfront, giving the regulators ultimate say on whether or not the corporate can go public abroad.
Pony.ai and WeRide, that are already listed in the US, can difficulty about 102 million new shares every for his or her Hong Kong listings.
WeRide has tapped Morgan Stanley and China Worldwide Capital Company to work on the itemizing, based on a Reuters report. Neither WeRide nor Pony.ai instantly responded to CNBC’s inquiry on their IPO plans.
Pony.ai CEO James Peng had advised CNBC in July that the corporate was exploring a Hong Kong itemizing. Hong Kong would supply “shut proximity” to the corporate’s residence market of China, which is one thing that will curiosity a whole lot of buyers, Peng mentioned.
Pony.ai and WeRide, each headquartered in Guangzhou, are amongst a rising wave of Chinese language corporations looking for secondary listings in Hong Kong, in what has been a bounce-back yr for town’s IPO market.
The Chinese language corporations’ transfer to twin listing additionally comes as they increase their presence to new areas, together with the Center East, Europe and Asian international locations akin to Singapore, though they’ve but to obtain full approvals to function their robotaxis in most of these areas.
Within the U.S., each corporations have partnered with Uber, with hopes of deploying their robotaxis on the agency’s ride-hailing platform after receiving approval. In China, they’ve already begun working totally autonomous robotaxis in main cities, which might be hailed by way of their respective apps.
The businesses have smaller autonomous car fleets when in comparison with extra established gamers akin to Baidu‘s Apollo Go in China and Alphabet‘s Waymo within the U.S.
Pony.ai launched its IPO in November with shares priced at $13 apiece — the inventory has gained greater than 60% since. WeRide debuted on the Nasdaq, with the IPO priced at $15.50 a share in October 2024, and its inventory has misplaced over 30% to this point.
