Recently, Chenqi Technology Limited (Ruqi Travel, HK: 09680) disclosed the offering announcement. According to the announcement, Ruqi Travel will offer shares from June 28 to July 5, with an issue price range of HK$34.0 to HK$45.4 per share, and plans to offer 30,004,800 new shares.
Based on the mid-price (HK$39.7 per share), the total proceeds of the IPO were HK$1.191 billion, and the net proceeds were approximately HK$1.107 billion. Of this, 40% will be used for R&D activities for autonomous driving and Robotaxi operation services, and the rest will be used for service product upgrades and operational efficiency improvements.
Bedo Finance learned that the listing of Ruqi Travel has been subscribed by a number of cornerstone investors, including GAC Industry, Pony.ai, Didi's Voyager, and WeRide, with a total of HK$820 million in the company's shares. According to the plan, Ruqi Travel will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on July 10, 2024.
Among them, GAC Industry and Pony.ai are shareholders of Ruqi Travel. According to the prospectus, Pony.ai spent $15 million in April 2022 to participate in the A round of investment in Ruqi Mobility. In June 2023, Pony.ai once again spent $15 million to participate in the subscription of Ruqi Travel's Series A preferred shares.
According to the prospectus, Ruqi Travel completed the founding round of financing (900 million yuan) in July 2019, with a cost of 10 yuan per share and a post-investment valuation of 1 billion yuan. In June 2023, it completed Series A financing (about 979 million yuan) with a cost per share of 20.2793 yuan and a post-investment valuation of 3.01 billion yuan, and in August 2023, it completed Series B financing with a cost of 30.44 yuan per share and a post-investment valuation of 5.36 billion yuan.
According to reports, the funds raised by the founding round and the A round of pre-IPO investment have all been used, while the pre-IPO proceeds of the B round of pre-IPO investment of about RMB 504 million have not been used. In this listing fundraising, Ruqi Travel will receive another large amount of cash.
Before the IPO, GAC Industry directly held 20.53% of the shares in Ruqi Travel, and indirectly held 15.05% of the shares through Zhonglong, totaling 35.58%; Tencent holds 18.61% of the shares through Tencent Mobility, Guangzhou Public Transport Group holds 5.74% of the shares, Pony.ai holds 5.39% of the shares, and Zhixing BVI, a subsidiary of Zhixing Trust, holds 4.63% of the shares.
At the same time, Guoxuan Hi-Tech (SZ:002074) holds 2.98% of the shares through Hefei Guoxuan, Hongfeng Investment, Dayi Investment, China Drive and Jovial Lane each hold 2.87% of the shares, SMBC Trust holds 1.73% of the shares, Ruisheng Asia holds 1.70% of the shares through DMR, and Guangmin Investment New Energy holds 1.50% of the shares.
In addition, Guangzhou Guangshang Xinfu and Guangzhou Industrial Control each hold 1.42% of the shares, Guangzhou Chentu Huajie holds 1.23% of the shares, Guangzhou Kechuang Bank holds 1.06% of the shares, Shenzhen Xinrui Fengsheng holds 0.94% of the shares, Guangzhou Kechuang Industry holds 0.85% of the shares, and Jiang Hua, executive director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ruqi Mobility, holds 0.06% of the shares through Ruqi Mobility(a) Limited.
Among them, GAC Group's Deputy General Manager Gao Rui is a non-executive director and chairman of the board of directors (i.e., chairman) of Ruqi Mobility, Song Deqiang is the company's chief technology officer (CTO), Han Feng (Han Feng) is the chief operating officer (COO), Sun Lei is vice president, Xiao Yan, Liang Weiqiang, Liang Weiqiang and Bai Hui are all non-executive directors.
According to the prospectus, Ruqi Travel's business includes travel services, mainly including online car-hailing and Robotaxi services; technical services, mainly including artificial intelligence data and model solutions and high-precision maps; Provide a full set of supporting ecological services for drivers and capacity franchisees.
Ruqi Travel said in the prospectus that the company began to provide online car-hailing services in 2019 and its business continued to develop. In 2020, Ruqi Mobility launched a ride-hailing service, started the development and commercialization of Robotaxi in 2021, and launched a car service business in April 2022.
As of December 31, 2023, the Robotaxi service has been in operation for about 20,080 hours, covering 545 stations, and completing about 450,700 kilometers of safe trial operation. But as of now, Robotaxi has made only a tiny amount of revenue. According to reports, Robotaxi is expected to be commercialized on a large scale in 2026.
Robotaxi is expected to be widely adopted worldwide by 2030. This scale will reduce operating costs and increase efficiency, attracting private car users to switch to Robotaxi services. It is estimated that the penetration rate of Robotaxi in China's smart mobility will reach 31.8% in 2030 and 69.3% in 2035.
According to the prospectus, Ruqi Travel's revenue in 2021, 2022 and 2023 will be 1.014 billion yuan, 1.368 billion yuan and 2.161 billion yuan respectively, the net loss will be 685 million yuan, 627 million yuan and 693 million yuan respectively, and the adjusted net loss will be 668 million yuan, 531 million yuan and 541 million yuan respectively.
Despite the extensive description of Robotaxi, Ruqi's revenue mainly comes from ride-hailing services. During the reporting period, the company's revenue from online car-hailing services was 1.013 billion yuan, 1.250 billion yuan and 1.812 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 99.9%, 91.3% and 83.9% of its total revenue, respectively.
In terms of transaction value in 2023, the GBA accounted for 15.2% of the total market share of China's mobility services market. Among them, Company A ranks first in the Greater Bay Area travel service market with a market share of 56.5%, significantly exceeding the 5.6% market share of Ruqi Travel. As of 2023, the company ranks second in the ride-hailing industry in the Greater Bay Area with a market share of 6.9%.
According to the prospectus, the number of orders for online car-hailing services of Ruqi Travel will increase from 46 million in 2021 to 97.3 million in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 45.4%; The transaction value of ride-hailing services increased from RMB1,311 million in 2021 to RMB2,714 million in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 43.9%.
It is understood that the online car-hailing service platform under Ruqi Travel mainly refers to Ruqi Travel (operated by Qichen Technology). Tianyancha App information shows that Qichen Technology was established in March 2018, formerly known as Guangzhou Chechipin Information Technology Co., Ltd. At present, the registered capital of the company is 10 million yuan, the legal representative is Jiang Hua, and the shareholders include Sun Yanhong.
On July 10, 2019, Qichen Technology became a related consolidated entity of Ruqi Travel through a contractual arrangement.