NIO, An Electric Car Company That Has Raised Billions, May Go Public

Morning Report: NIO may go public, bringing another electric car maker’s shares to the masses.

NIO, a Chinese electric car company, may go public in the United States, according to Bloomberg. The same report goes on to note that NIO may raise as much as $2 billion in the transaction, which the firm has filed for confidentially.

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The huge potential raise comes after the automotive company had a critical 2017. NIO raised $1.6 billion in the year, first in a $600 million chunk led by Baidu and Tencent and another billion later on led by Tencent.

In December, the firm released the ES8, an electric SUV that TechCrunch reports has “220 miles of range, fast charging that will top off the battery entirely in one hour of charging, [and] battery pack swapping capabilities for three-minute refueling.”

With the car in the market and some of China’s biggest tech companies behind you, why not go public while the getting is good? If NIO does list on American markets, it will join Tesla as an electric car company that trades publicly, which is being battered by a recent slew of negative reports.

A series of high-profile crashes has brought new attention to the firm’s self-driving technology; the company has missed production deadlines for its critical Model 3 car; and the car manufacturer’s cash consumption has worried some market observers, whose fears are, at least partially, made reasonable by declines in the value of Tesla’s long-term debt.

So it’s not easy to build an electric vehicle business. But we know nothing for now about NIO’s finances. Perhaps it is less unprofitable and cash-hungry. If so, it could have an easier roll to the public markers. But if NIO is akin to Tesla, it will be curious to see how the market values another electric car company that needs regular injections of money to keep going.

From The Crunchbase Daily:

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