EHang linked to Nasdaq IPO

EHang, the Chinese drone and eVTOL manufacturer has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of up to $200 million shares with Nasdaq – according to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.

EHang is hoping to make its US public debut and float 10-15% of its shares, but with no valuation finalised as of yet. Bloomberg’s sources suggest that the company is hoping to raise up to $200 million, approximately half of the $400-$500 million it had aspired to raise earlier this year.

The IPO was originally delayed back in April when the company turned instead to venture capital, with hopes of raising $200 million privately. EHang itself has not revealed any further developments here. Inside sources claimed that, at the time, the company was not ready to go public and had received “lukewarm investor interest”. That was according to Reuters.

EHang is reportedly working with Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse on the new offering and has a US headquarters based in San Carlos, California.

The Chinese manufacturer is one of the biggest names in the eVTOL market and is also one of the closest to launching a fully-fledged air-taxi service. Last month, it announced Guangzhou as the pilot city for its urban air mobility testing. The company is planning to work with the city to establish a low-altitude transport network both for passengers and for cargo.

It has also secured low-altitude airworthiness testing from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. One aim of the testing is to establish an airworthiness management system by the end of 2019.

EHang has taken more than 2,000 test flight both in and outside of China, including public demo flights in Vienna in April, where it flew 17 passengers in its two-seater 184 eVTOL prototype.

EHang in numbers

EHang has so far secured approximately $52 million in venture capital funding from eight investors – according to Crunchbase figures.

Its initial Series A funding round took place in December 2014, when GGV Capital, ZhenFund, PreAngel and private investor Nick Yang raised $10 million. GGV Capital led the round. The second funding round was for $42 million where the company upped its number of investors to seven, including all the above (sans Yang), GP Capital, Microsoft Accelerator Beijing, OFC and LeBox Capital. This time, GP Capital led the round.