On Apr 17, 2019, Ninebot’s application for listing in STIB was accepted by the review organizations.
The Science Technology Innovation Board met the first red chips listed company. On Apr 17, 2019, Ninebot’s application for listing in STIB was accepted by the review organizations. According to the prospectus of Ninebot, the Ninebot was registered in the Cayman Islands, but the operational entity is located in ZOL, Beijing. The Ninebot is a typical red chips company.
Ninebot, as a company belongs to Xiaomi’s ecological chain, has two of the top 10 largest shareholders with Xiaomi background. Shunwei Capital and People Better both own 10.91% of Ninebot’s share, and the proportion of voting is 5.08%. Except for Xiaomi, Ninebot also attracts other famous invest institutions such as Sequoia. Currently, the chairman and CEO of Ninebot, GAO Lufeng (高禄峰), owns 13.25% share of the company. WANG Ye (王野), the director and president of Ninebot, owns 15.40% share. The total proportion rates of the chairman and the president are 66.75%.
Ninebot is not the only company that belongs to the Xiaomi ecological chain and applies to the STIB. Roborock, which is a floor-cleaning robot manufacturer, also applied to go listed on STIB previously. Currently, Ninebot is still losing money, which is similar to most of the STIB companies. During the past 3 years, the revenue of Ninebot was CNY 1.2 billion, CNY 1.4 billion and CNY 4.2 billion. However, the net profit of the company was CNY -158 million, CNY -627 million and CNY -1.8 billion. Since the revenue and the money lost was keep increasing, it is estimated that the company is still in a rapidly developing stage.
The main production of Ninebot is the smart balanced vehicle, smart scooter, and smart service robot. From 2016 to 2017, the balanced vehicle is the main source of the company’s revenue. In 2016, the revenue from a balanced vehicle occupied 98.16% of the total revenue. However, Ninebot adjusted its revenue structure to a large degree in 2018. In 2018, the revenue from a balanced vehicle was 29.14% while the revenue from the smart scooter was 66.46%. The smart service robot still occupies a very little ratio of the total revenue. In 2018, the revenue proportion of the smart service robot was 0.31%.
Ninebot relies on Xiaomi to a serious degree, which may have some risk. Xiaomi group plays an important role in the development of Ninebot. From 2016 to 2018, the related party transactions between Xiaomi and Ninebot were CNY 624 million, CNY 1 billion and CNY 2.4 billion, which occupied 55.75%, 73.76%, and 57.31% of its total revenue. However, in 2018, Ninebot has successfully explored overseas clients such as Bird, Neutron, Lyft, and Uber. With the rapid development of these companies, Ninebot got revenue without Xiaomi’s help and resources. However, Xiaomi still plays a significant role in Ninebot. According to its prospectus of Ninebot, keeping a good relationship with Xiaomi would have a great influence on the revenue of Ninebot. In 2015, Ninebot acquired Segway, which is the originator of the balanced vehicle, which greatly improved the reputation of Ninebot. Although Ninebot relies a lot on Xiaomi’s resources, it pays a lot of attention to the exploring and maintenance of its own customers and channels.