DeepWay delivered 8,020 electric heavy-duty trucks in 2025, a staggering leap from 509 units just two years earlier. Now the Beijing-based company wants public money to keep the momentum going.
The Baidu-backed truck maker filed for a Hong Kong initial public offering this week, disclosing financials that tell two very different stories at once. Revenue doubled to 3.96 billion yuan ($582 million) in 2025. But losses hit 649 million yuan, a reminder that selling electric trucks at scale and making money doing it remain two separate problems.
Founded only in 2020, DeepWay has moved fast. It went from a startup with barely 500 deliveries in 2023 to the ninth-largest player in China’s new energy heavy-duty truck market by volume. That growth trajectory is real, but ninth place in a market this fragmented says as much about how crowded the field is as it does about DeepWay’s ambitions.
The company’s pitch to investors rests on vertical integration. DeepWay designs its electric trucks from scratch rather than retrofitting diesel platforms, embedding battery systems and autonomous driving software deep into the vehicle architecture. It has also started selling software subscriptions, creating the kind of recurring revenue stream that makes IPO bankers smile.
Baidu holds a 13.48% stake, lending the startup credibility on the autonomy front. But Baidu’s own autonomous driving unit, Apollo, has had a bumpy road commercializing its technology. Whether that association is a selling point or a cautionary tale depends on who you ask.
The pre-IPO fundraising tells its own story about where DeepWay sees its future. The company raised more than $310 million in recent rounds, pulling in capital from the UAE’s Stone and Australian pension fund NGS Super. Those aren’t random investors — they map directly to DeepWay’s stated expansion targets in the Middle East, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
Going international is smart positioning. China’s domestic electric truck market is becoming a knife fight. Competitor Zeron pulled in 1.2 billion yuan earlier this year from a roster that included a CATL-affiliated fund, Nio Capital, and Momenta.
The domestic market can absorb a lot of electric trucks since China’s push to decarbonize freight is genuine. But the number of companies chasing that demand keeps climbing.
IPO proceeds will fund continued R&D on smart vehicle technologies, expand the sales network, and build out the Changxing smart factory for core EV components. CICC and CMB International are handling the offering.
The 101% revenue jump is eye-catching. So is the fact that DeepWay is burning through cash at a pace that demands public market access. R&D spending on autonomous driving technology is the stated culprit for the losses, and that spending isn’t discretionary — it’s the entire thesis for why DeepWay should exist as something more than another Chinese truck company selling commodity hardware.
The Hong Kong listing market has been selective lately, rewarding companies with clear paths to profitability and punishing those without. DeepWay’s trajectory from 509 trucks to 8,020 in two years is compelling. Whether investors believe the company can close the gap between explosive growth and actual profit will determine how this IPO prices — and whether DeepWay gets the runway it needs before the next wave of competitors files their own paperwork.
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