Li Bin has raised another round of funds: 7 billion yuan has been credited to the account.

Brother Bin has raised funds again!

When it comes to fundraising, perhaps no one in the automotive industry is better at it than NIO.

Sure enough, after half a year, NIO has raised funds again.

Moreover, as soon as the placement announcement was released, over 7 billion yuan in financing was raised on the same day. The supporters are well - known long - term investment institutions from the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and other places.

On the one hand, it has been losing money for years, but on the other hand, it is long - term favored by well - known capital.

Regardless of other things, NIO is indeed very adept at handling capital and can impress investors again and again.

In terms of fundraising, no one can judge Brother Bin.

However, compared with previous fundraisings, the timing of this fund is delicate. It is not just used to fill the cash flow, but more like NIO is using it to prepare for battle and strive for the year - end profit goal.

NIO has raised funds again

NIO recently released a fundraising announcement, announcing the issuance of 181.8 million Class A common shares, including American Depositary Shares (ADS), underwritten jointly by international top investment banks such as Morgan Stanley, UBS Securities, and Deutsche Bank.

Also on the day the announcement was released, NIO quickly completed the financing, raising over 1 billion US dollars, equivalent to approximately 7.12 billion yuan in RMB.

Among them, the public offering price of each ADS is US$5.57 (approximately 39.7 yuan), and the price of each common share is HK$43.36.

According to NIO, there was still large - scale participation from many international capitals in this financing, including well - known long - term investment institutions from the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Asia.

As for the use of this fund, NIO also clearly stated in the announcement:

First, it will be used for the R & D of core technologies for intelligent electric vehicles, including assisted driving technology, intelligent cockpit, next - generation electric drive system, etc.

In addition, it will also be used for developing a new generation of technology platforms and models, and expanding the charging and battery - swapping network.

Part of the funds will also be used to optimize the financial situation - this is a point that the outside world pays particular attention to. NIO said that it will further strengthen the company's balance sheet to support long - term strategic investment.

The final use of the funds is the most direct and core reason for NIO's fundraising.

However, through NIO's second - quarter financial report this year, we may also dig out deeper information from another dimension.

Losses on one side, capital injection on the other

With losses of billions of yuan per quarter, NIO has been in a state of capital hunger for a long time. This has been further confirmed in the financial report.

At the end of the first half of this year, NIO's total assets were 100.046 billion yuan, and its total liabilities were 93.43 billion yuan. The asset - liability ratio reached 93.4%, 14 percentage points higher than 79.4% in the same period last year.

Compared with some other mainstream car companies, NIO's debt ratio is relatively high, significantly higher than the general range of 60% - 80%:

Further looking, NIO's current liabilities reached 62.282 billion yuan, higher than its current assets of 52.508 billion yuan; the amount of accounts payable and bills was 34.951 billion yuan.

However, NIO's cash reserve was 27.2 billion yuan during the same period, including cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, short - term investments and long - term time deposits. It increased slightly from 26 billion yuan at the end of the first quarter, but there is still a significant gap compared with 41.9 billion yuan at the end of 2024.

That is to say, NIO's cash reserve in the first half of the year was difficult to cover its payables, and its short - term solvency further declined.

Therefore, in this situation, the arrival of 1 billion US dollars in financing is undoubtedly a timely help for NIO.

The most direct and urgent impact is to supplement operating funds, improve the cash flow situation, and relieve the short - term debt repayment pressure.

By getting more time to breathe and adjust, NIO can focus more on long - term layout, such as technology R & D and expanding the charging and battery - swapping layout, and wait for the economies of scale of these "money - burning" projects to take shape.

Actually, there is also a potential impact related to NIO's profit goal.

At this point, NIO's targeted profit timeline is basically set - it is the fourth quarter of this year.

It is not easy for NIO to achieve this goal, which requires several factors to work together:

Firstly, sales should continue to rise. New products such as the LeDao L90 and the new ES8 need to increase in volume. Sufficient funds can better ensure the supply chain and production to strive for higher delivery targets.

Secondly, the gross profit margin should be further improved, from the current level of about 10% to 16% - 17%. This requires economies of scale and cost reduction through technology, but the premise for implementing the promotion measures is still the availability of funds.

Of course, the capital market has always been shrewd. NIO's financial report also shows positive signals, which makes investors believe again and support with real money:

In terms of sales, NIO delivered 72,056 vehicles in Q2, a year - on - year increase of 25.6% and a quarter - on - quarter increase of 71.2%, setting a new high for the same period in history.

In terms of profit, the comprehensive gross profit margin in Q2 rebounded to 10.0%, significantly higher than 7.6% in Q1; the loss scale was still large, with a net loss of 4.995 billion yuan in Q2, but both year - on - year and quarter - on - quarter losses were narrowing.

Moreover, the real report card to verify the turning point should be revealed in the third quarter. NIO has given its expectations -

The sales guidance for Q3 is 87,000 - 91,000 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 40.7% to 47.1%; the revenue guidance is 21.81 - 22.88 billion yuan, both setting new historical highs.

NIO delivered 21,017 new vehicles in July, a year - on - year increase of 2.53%; in August, the delivery reached a new high of 31,305 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 55.2%.

To meet the sales expectations in September, it needs to deliver at least 34,678 vehicles. Judging from the current momentum, it may not be impossible.

At least for now, the market and NIO have reached a majority of unified views:

NIO's turning point has come.

A top student in fundraising, how much has it actually raised?

It has to be said that in terms of fundraising ability, NIO can indeed be regarded as a top student among new - energy vehicle startups, especially good at finding money and surviving.

The amazing thing is that although NIO has been suffering huge losses for years, it can always make capital willing to support it and get financial backing at critical moments.

Just half a year before this financing, NIO also conducted a fundraising. At that time, it placed shares at a price of HK$29.46 per share, and finally raised HK$3.5 billion. The total financing amount this year has exceeded 10 billion yuan.

Counting the time, NIO has been established for 11 years. According to Qichacha data, NIO has carried out at least 18 rounds of financing successively. Coupled with IPOs in the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore, the cumulative fundraising has been close to 100 billion yuan.

△

Comparing the fundraising histories of several new - energy vehicle startups such as XPeng, Li Auto and Leapmotor, after incomplete statistics, it is found that in terms of both the number of fundraisings and the scale of financing, NIO ranks among the top.

In fact, when new - energy vehicle startups were booming in the early days, it was not new to rely on financing to maintain growth.

However, after years of survival of the fittest, being able to continuously attract external capital for a long time, perhaps few people can do it except Li Bin.

On the one hand, this is inseparable from Li Bin's personal reputation in the industry. On the other hand, it is also because institutional capital is optimistic about NIO's story.

Li Bin often compares himself to Amazon. The latter also spent a long time on infrastructure construction, focused on user experience, and failed to make a profit for a long time.

But now we can see what Amazon has become. Its founder Jeff Bezos - even after a divorce, is still one of the richest people in the world.

Perhaps the capital that has been repeatedly impressed by Li Bin and NIO really believes in this "Amazon" in the new - energy field.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Intelligent Vehicle Reference" (ID: AI4Auto), author: Jessica. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.