Source: China Business Daily

Our reporter Yin Limei and Tong Haihua reporting from Beijing

"about the listing process of the companyBestnewblockchaingamesPlease refer to the HKEx announcement. " On April 11, the head of Horizon Robotics, which is sprinting Hong Kong stock IPO, made the above remarks in response to a reporter from China Business Daily about its listing, fund-raising and other related questions.

On March 26, Horizon formally submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which has become one of the most concerned hot events in the intelligent driving industry since 2024.

Established in 2015, Horizon, as a leading company of China's smart driving technology and a "unicorn" of the intelligent driving track, opened the road to IPO only nine years after its establishment.

It is reported that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and CITIC are its co-sponsors. Horizon said that if the listing is successful, it will further improve its market competitiveness and help enterprises move to a new level of development.

The reporter learned that Horizon intends to use the funds raised for R & D, sales and marketing-related expenses, future strategic investment of the joint venture, general corporate uses and working capital requirements.

Horizon is positioned as a provider of Advanced Auxiliary driving (ADAS) and Advanced self-driving (AD) solutions for passenger cars. As a company that provides core technologies for advanced auxiliary and high-level self-driving, Horizon officially delivered mass-produced intelligent driving software and hardware products and technology solutions to vehicle manufacturers in 2021.

The reporter learned that so far, the Horizon has completed 15 rounds of financing, raising a total of 23.Bestnewblockchaingames.62 billion US dollars. In the latest round of financing by D-round, Horizon raised 2. 5%.Bestnewblockchaingames.1 billion U.S. dollars, raising the valuation to 8.71 billion U.S. dollars, or about 62.8 billion yuan.

Horizon investors include Volkswagen Group, SAIC Group, GAC GROUP, Great Wall Motor, BYD, Ningde Times, Ballie Gillford, Wuyuan Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Blackstone Fund and other industrial giants and well-known investment institutions at home and abroad.

Horizon submitted a 540-page prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, disclosing its operating data over the past three years. According to the prospectus, from 2021 to 2023, the income of the horizon was 467 million yuan, 906 million yuan and 1.552 billion yuan respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 82.3%. Horizon's revenue mainly comes from automotive solutions, including product solutions and licensing and services; gross margins are 331 million yuan, 628 million yuan and 1.094 billion yuan respectively; gross margins are 70.9%, 69.3% and 70.5%, respectively, and gross profit margins are maintained at around 70%.

Profitability is the most concerned indicator in the process of IPO. According to the data disclosed in the prospectus, the horizon incurred losses of 2.064 billion yuan, 8.72 billion yuan and 6.739 billion yuan in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively, while the adjusted net loss (measured by non-IFRS measures) was 1.103 billion yuan, 1.892 billion yuan and 1.635 billion yuan respectively.

It is noteworthy that, with the significant increase in income, the percentage of income of the adjusted net loss on the horizon (as measured by non-IFRS measures) has narrowed significantly.

"our losses are mainly due to the need for a large amount of investment in the early stage, the economies of scale effect has not yet been released, the loss of the new joint venture Ku Rui Cheng, and preferred stock and itsBestnewblockchaingamesChanges in the fair value of his financial liabilities. " For the company's losses in the past three years, Horizon said.

Smart driving is a high-input, long-cycle industry. The reporter noted that in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the R & D expenditure on the horizon was 1.144 billion yuan, 1.879 billion yuan and 2.366 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 245.0%, 207.6% and 152.5% of the annual income, respectively. Horizon expects R & D spending to continue to account for a high proportion of operating expenditure to support future business expansion, but will continue to decline as a share of revenue.

On the question of how to achieve better profitability, Horizon said it would break even and make a profit in the next few years by expanding revenue, maintaining gross profit margins, increasing operating leverage and improving Ku Rui Cheng's operations.

The full name of Ku Rui Cheng mentioned above is Ku Rui Cheng (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Horizon and CARIAD, a software company owned by Volkswagen Group, which was established at the end of 2023. Cool Ruicheng is still in its infancy and has not yet generated revenue.

Since its inception, Horizon has borne its losses. As Core Cheng is still developing, we expect to continue to bear its share of the losses. " Horizon said that thanks to synergies with Volkswagen Group, Core's largest shareholder and customer, Ku Ruicheng has a clear market-oriented strategy that can effectively boost revenue growth by completing Volkswagen Group orders. Horizon believes that in the future, Kuicheng will help it seize China's high-end self-driving market.

In the smart driving track, the horizon has built its own competitive advantage. As the first Chinese company to provide pre-production ADAS and AD solutions, Horizon is now the largest Chinese company to provide pre-production ADAS and AD solutions; deliveries of Horizon processing hardware solutions have reached 5 million, according to a set of data disclosed by Burning knowledge Consulting. Between 2022 and 2023, the installed capacity of Horizon ADAS and AD solutions increased fivefold.

In the extremely inward-winding NOA (Navigate On Autopilot) racetrack, the horizon should also have a greater say. According to the latest "2023 market share list of standard NOA calculation solutions for passenger cars in the Chinese market" released by Gao Gong Intelligent Automobile Research Institute, two head suppliers, Nvidia and Horizon, took the lead, accounting for more than 80% of the total share, and further expanded to 84.48% from 83.28% in the first half of the year.

The intelligent driving market is considered to have broad development prospects, and it is a "market cake" that can be made bigger and bigger. In 2023, the assembly rate of auxiliary driving in China has exceeded 50%. As a leading enterprise, Horizon is constantly expanding its territory.

It is reported that the Horizon Smart driving program has been adopted by more than 230 models of 31 OEM brands under 24 OEM, and more than 100 designated projects have been obtained in 2023. At the same time, Horizon has partnered with the top 10 Chinese OEM and is the largest supplier of on-board smart computing solutions for BYD and ideal Motors.

(Editor: Zhang Shuo Reviewed: Tong Haihua Proofread: Yan Yuxia)