DeepWay secures $310 million in pre-IPO funding.

      The Hefei-based firm, which has supplied 6,400 intelligent electric heavy-duty trucks in China and is aiming for a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, has welcomed an Australian superannuation fund among its newest investors, indicating that its clean freight narrative is attracting institutional investment beyond its domestic market. However, it has yet to achieve profitability.

      DeepWay, the Baidu-supported developer of intelligent electric heavy-duty trucks, has concluded the second round of its pre-IPO financing, accumulating a total of $310 million during this phase prior to its planned Hong Kong listing.

      The latest funding round was spearheaded by Stone Venture, with backing from NGS Super, an Australian superannuation fund catering to education sector workers, alongside participation from Xiamen Guosheng Fund. Existing investors, including ABC Impact, backed by Temasek, and Nanjing Ronghe Venture Capital, also increased their investments.

      The involvement of NGS Super is significant. Australian superannuation funds, which manage retirement savings for numerous teachers and community workers, do not generally dominate the list of investors in pre-IPO rounds for Chinese autonomous vehicle startups.

      This participation from NGS Super suggests either a belief in the decarbonization of heavy freight as a key investment theme, a wider search for returns in a market perceived as saturated, or possibly both. NGS Super’s Chief Investment Officer, Ben Squires, mentioned the company's “long-term investment value” and its potential in establishing a “sustainable commercial closed loop,” while highlighting the fund’s “extensive resources in Australia and New Zealand” as a foundation for supporting DeepWay’s aspirations internationally.

      Founded in 2020 as a collaboration between Baidu and Lionbridge, a platform for commercial vehicle services in China, DeepWay follows a clear but less common thesis: instead of modifying existing diesel truck designs for electric power—a common industry practice—DeepWay has engineered its vehicles from the ground up for electric powertrains, incorporating intelligent driving features from the start.

      As stated in its prospectus, Baidu owns a 17.28% stake in DeepWay, providing essential support through its Apollo autonomous driving technology, which DeepWay is permitted to access and adapt under what both companies characterize as an exclusive commercial vehicle agreement. DeepWay then adds its own driver assistance and platooning systems atop that foundation.

      Although the commercial outcomes have been swift, they have not yet yielded profits. In 2023, DeepWay delivered 509 vehicles, followed by 3,002 in 2024 and 2,873 in the first half of 2025, totaling around 6,400 units by June 2025, all through commercial customer orders. The revenue for the first half of 2025 was around CNY 1.5 billion (approximately $200 million), according to its Hong Kong listing prospectus. However, profitability has not been reached: the prospectus reflects a net loss of CNY 675 million ($97 million) for the entirety of 2024 and CNY 371 million ($53 million) in the first half of 2025.

      The company anticipates continuing to incur losses as it increases investment in research and development, sales, and international operations.

      DeepWay has filed for its listing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2025, with CICC and CMB International acting as joint sponsors, and is expected to go public under the city’s Chapter 18C listing regime, which permits specialist technology firms that do not meet conventional financial criteria to list, provided they satisfy minimum capitalization requirements. The regime has been utilized by an increasing number of Chinese autonomous driving and electric vehicle companies since its introduction in 2023. WeRide and Pony.ai made their Hong Kong debut in October 2025, while LiDAR manufacturer Hesai secured $531 million there the previous month.

      DeepWay's technology is composed of two levels. Its driver assistance system, Tianji Suixing, is now standard across its vehicle range, with operators incurring a subscription cost for active use. At the higher-autonomy level, the Tianji Yanxing intelligent platooning system is operational in cargo-carrying operations across several regions in China and has begun to deliver commercially.

      The company has received permits for autonomous driving tests in Beijing, Hefei, Changxing, and Inner Mongolia. The ultimate objective is to develop completely autonomous freight vehicles that do not require any human operators, although no timeline for this goal has been provided.

      The funds raised from both pre-IPO rounds will be used to support core operations, technology advancements, and worldwide growth. DeepWay has already established sales networks in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the UAE, Oman, Australia, and New Zealand, with plans to complete overseas deliveries by the end of 2025.

      In terms of the global road freight market, the significance is substantial: the sector is valued at an estimated $3.9 trillion and remains predominantly reliant on diesel, making it a major