China’s Hesai Group Climbs In Nasdaq Debut On Autonomous Transport Hopes

Hesai Group, a supplier of sensors for self-driving vehicles whose investors include Baidu and smartphone maker Xiaomi, rose by 10.8% on its debut on the Nasdaq today on hopes for growth in autonomous transport.

Hesai said in a statement today it raised $190 million in its IPO this week. The listing was the largest by a Chinese company since the high-profile delisting of ride-hailing provider Didi last year, and comes after U.S. regulators said at the end of last year they had reached an agreement over auditing of Chinese-listed firms that had caused new listings from the country to grind to a near halt.

Hesai’s shares rose by $2.05 to $21.05 today; they climbed another 4.1% in aftermarket trade.

Shanghai-headquartered Hesai is a global leader in three-dimensional light detection and ranging, or LiDAR, solutions that provides smart vehicles with high-resolution 3D vision. Hesai’s technology also can be used with last-mile delivery robots and logistics robots in restricted areas.

Besides Baidu and Xiaomi, notable Hesai investors include Bosch and funds associated with U.S. venture capital firm Lightspeed. (Click here for the prospectus.)

The IPO comes amid hopes that a pick-up in economic growth in the Asia-Pacific this year will lead to more offerings by Asian companies in the U.S. this year. “Our pipeline is super strong,” Nasdaq Vice Chairman Robert McCooey, Jr. told Forbes earlier this month. (See interview here.)

As of yesterday, there have been four other international listings on the Nasdaq this year, three of which were from the Asia-Pacific: Cetus Capital Acquisition, Quantasing Group and Lichen China.

About 20% — or about 800 — Nasdaq-traded companies are based overseas. Among the largest are JD.com and Trip.com from China.

One challenge this spring for China firms and their underwriters will be fallout from the U.S. downing of the suspected spy balloon this month, stoking Cold War fears.

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@rflannerychina