NIO is an automobile manufacturer, specializing in designing and developing electric autonomous vehicles. The company is also involved in the FIA Formula E Championship, the first single-seater, all-electric racing series.
NIO designs and develops smart, high-performance, electric vehicles with an aim to be the first “User Enterprise” in the world.
NIO was founded in November 2014, by William Li, Hsien Tong Cheng, and Lihong Qin. The company is headquartered in Jiading, Shanghai, China with. research and development, design and manufacturing centers in Shanghai, Beijing, San Jose, Munich, London and six other locations.
NIO, in 2015, was the title sponsor for the Drivers’ Championship winning team during the inaugural ABB FIA Formula E season. In 2016, NIO unveiled one of the fastest electric cars in the world, the EP9. In 2017, NIO unveiled its vision car EVE and announced that the NIO EP9 set a new world speed record for an autonomous vehicle at the Circuit of the Americas.
NIO's divisions include, NIO Life is the company's clothing collection. NIO Service, the company's network of service centers. NIO Power, the company's network of battery swap stations, power mobile, power home and super chargers. NIO has 122 Play Stations around China,including 18 battery swap stations along the G4 Expressway in China.
NIO officially began deliveries of the ES8, the high-performance electric flagship SUV, on June 28, 2018. NIO was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on September 12, 2018. NIO officially launched the high-performance long-range electric SUV, NIO ES6, at NIO Day on December 15, 2018.
NIO is backed by leading investors including Tencent, Temasek, Baidu, Hefei City Construction and Investment Holding Group, Baillie Gifford, Sequoia, Lenovo, TPG, China Asset Management and others. The company raised $1B in a Post-IPO equity round on Apr 29, 2020. This brings NIO's total funding to $5.4B to date.
NIO went public on Sep 12, 2018. The company raised $1B with a $6.4B valuation at IPO.