Text丨Straight through IPO Wang Fei."The first LiDAR stock in Hong Kong" is about to be born.
On December 3, Suteng Juchuang passed the hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and disclosed the information set after the hearing. If all goes well, the company could complete its IPO as soon as this year.
And this also means that Qiu Chunxin, a post-80s doctor in Chaoshan, has been in business for nearly 10 years with his mentor and classmates, and is about to usher in a harvest period.
It should be noted that Suteng Juchuang and Hesai Technology, which landed on the NASDAQ in February this year, are both in the dilemma of "increasing revenue but not increasing profits".
Among them, the net loss of Suteng Juchuang increased from 6 in the same period last year1.9 billion yuan, expanded to 76.8 billion yuan;Hesai Technology experienced a narrowing of losses in Q2 and expanded to 14.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1006%。
In addition, since its listing, Hesai Technology's stock price has shrunk by 52 percent from its first day of listing45%, market value evaporated 13$7.4 billion.
And this is also a problem that needs to be continuously considered after the successful listing of Suteng Juchuang.
The net loss in the first half of the year widened to 76.8 billion As one of the participants in the lidar and perception solutions market, Suteng Juchuang is different from most lidar pure hardware manufacturers in the market through the integration of hardware and software.
Suteng's business mainly includes the sale of LiDAR hardware products used in ADAS, robotics and other non-automotive industries (such as cleaning, logistics, industry, public services and inspection).Sales of LiDAR perception solutions that integrate LiDAR hardware and AI perception software;and the provision of technology development and other services.
According to the prospectus, from 2020 to 2022, Suteng Juchuang's revenue will be about 17.1 billion, 33.1 billion, 53 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 762%；The gross profit was 75370 million, 14 billion, -392950,000 yuan.
In the first half of 2023, Suteng Juchuang's revenue will be 32.9 billion yuan, compared with 23.7 billion yuan;The gross profit was 127520,000 yuan, compared with 3,311 in the same period last year20,000 yuan.
*: Suteng Juchuang prospectus.
It should be noted that from 2020 to 2021, the gross profit margins of Suteng Juchuang were. 4%。And in 2022, the company's gross profit margin turned negative, recording -74%。
In the first half of 2023, Suteng Juchuang's gross profit margin has turned positive to 39%, but compared to 140%, there is still a big gap. According to the prospectus, in the first three quarters of this year, the company's gross profit margin has increased from 23% to 60%, of which the gross margin in Q3 was 87%。
During the reporting period, Suteng Juchuang has been in a state of loss and has not improved. From 2020 to 2022, the company's annual loss was 22.1 billion, 165.5 billion, 208.6 billion yuan, with a cumulative loss of about 39 in three years6.2 billion yuan;Adjusted net loss (non-IFRS measure) was 599340,000, 10.8 billion, 56.3 billion yuan.
In the prospectus submitted in June this year, Suteng Juchuang said that "since we have only recently started the commercialization of solid-state lidar, we may continue to be in a state of operating loss and net loss".
In the first half of 2023, Suteng Juchuang will have a net loss of 76.8 billion yuan, compared with 61.9 billion yuan;Adjusted net loss was 24.4 billion yuan, compared to 19.6 billion yuan.
*: Suteng Juchuang prospectus.
"Our net loss was mainly attributable to significant cost of sales, general and administrative expenses and R&D expenses incurred during the track record period, as well as the overall average selling price of LiDAR products for ADAS applications**.
As for future expectations, Suteng Juchuang also mentioned in the post-hearing information collection, "We may continue to incur net losses and net operating cash outflows in the foreseeable future, including the year ended December 31, 2023, and we expect to maintain a net loss level and generate net operating cash outflows for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2024." ”
In other words, Suteng Juchuang is in the dilemma of "increasing income but not increasing profits", and it is difficult to improve in the short term.
According to the information of CIC Consulting, as of March 31, 2023, Suteng Juchuang has successfully obtained the expected orders for the pre-assembly mass production of 52 models from 21 automobile OEMs and first-class manufacturers, ranking first in the world.
It should be noted that the "fixed point" obtained by car companies also needs to be finally converted into sales.
According to the information set documents after the hearing, after one quarter, the number of models covered by Suteng Juchuang has increased to 58, and the company has achieved SOPs (i.e., the start of mass production) of 13 models for nine of the above 21 automakers and Tier 1 manufacturers.
From this point of view, Suteng Juchuang is still "a long way to go", after all, it is not uncommon for the first business to be replaced at any time.
According to the official website of Suteng Juchuang, the company has been designated by FAW, SAIC, GAC, Geely, Great Wall and other leading domestic automobile manufacturers.
However, since September this year, FAW Hongqi, Leapmotor and Great Wall Motor have reached relevant cooperation with Hesai Technology. In other words, it may be difficult for all the "fixed-point" of Suteng Juchuang to be mass-produced as desired.
According to an unnamed industry insider, due to the loss of FAW Hongqi, Leap, and the Great Wall, some of the relevant persons in charge of internal sales and projects of Suteng Juchuang left their jobs.
In addition, take the main contribution of lidar on the car "Wei Xiaoli" as an example. NIO and Li are the largest customers of Tudatong and Hesai Technology respectively, while Xpeng is stepping on two ships: Lanwo and Suteng Juchuang.
*: Cybernews.
The inability to grasp the customers of high-quality car companies will directly affect the speed of subsequent volume.
Incidentally, Tudatong has passed the IPO filing with the China Securities Regulatory Commission in August this year, and the company plans to list on the NASDAQ, and is expected to "compete on the same stage" with Hesai Technology in the future.
Received nearly 4 billion investment, if the "VAM" is triggered, the maximum loss is 6.2 billion Since its establishment, in addition to two equity transfers, Suteng Juchuang has received a total of 12 rounds of investment in 9 years, with a cumulative investment of about 386.5 billion yuan.
According to the prospectus, in April this year, Suteng Juchuang also completed a G-1 series financing of 400 million yuan, with a cost of 35 per share$17, as well as finishing 7$9.1 billion G-2 series financing, cost per share of 3642 yuan, a total of 119.1 billion yuan investment.
Based on the last round of financing**, at this time, the valuation of Suteng Juchuang has exceeded 15 billion yuan.
Before the IPO, founder and CEO Qiu Chunxin held 1158%, Chief Scientist Zhu Xiaorui holds 694%, co-founder and CTO Liu Letian holds 425%。
In addition, the rookie holds 1103%, the largest institutional shareholder of Suteng Juchuang;Huaxing Capital holds 532%；The early investor, Dongfang Fuhai, holds a 36%；Hubei Xiaomi Yangtze River Industrial Investment ** holds 235%；Geely holds 172%；BAIC Motor holds a total of 172%。
*: Suteng Juchuang prospectus.
It should be noted that in the prospectus of Suteng Juchuang, if the company fails to complete the listing on or before December 31, 2024 or a later date approved by shareholders, each preferred shareholder (except for holders of angel series preferred shares and seed series preferred shares) has the right to redeem all or part of their respective shares.
In other words, if Suteng Juchuang cannot complete the listing by the end of next year, then its investors can redeem up to 6.2 billion yuan of shares.
As of June 30, 2023, Suteng Juchuang had cash and cash equivalents of 211.2 billion yuan.
Once Suteng Juchuang fails to complete the listing on time, the company will also face huge capital exposure.
Money and time are obviously two "safety lines" that need to be carefully calculated in front of Suteng Juchuang.