Nio‘s HK$287 million ($36.6 million) investment in its exclusive LiDAR supplier Seyond has lost roughly two-thirds of its value in six months, after the sensor maker’s Hong Kong shares collapsed 42% in the two sessions following the expiry of its first post-listing lock-up.
The Sunnyvale, California-based LiDAR maker formerly known as Innovusion, went public in Hong Kong last December through a merger.
The premium EV maker subscribed for 28.67 million Seyond shares through a wholly owned subsidiary in December, anchoring the PIPE financing of the lidar maker’s listing at the HK$10 issue price.
At Thursday’s record-low close of HK$3.43, that stake is worth about HK$98 million ($12.5 million) — a markdown of HK$189 million in half a year.
Seyond fell 17.15% on Thursday, touching an all-time low of HK$3.36 during the session on volume of 37.1 million shares, more than six times the recent daily average, leaving the company’s market value at about HK$4.46 billion ($568 million).
The slide began on Wednesday, when the first batch of shares locked up since the December 10 listing became eligible for sale and the stock closed down 30.07% at HK$4.14.
The two-day rout leaves Seyond trading 66% below the price at which it listed exactly six months ago.
Seyond responded with its first buyback since going public, repurchasing HK$784,900 (about $100,000) of stock at prices between HK$5.84 and HK$5.92, according to Chinese outlet CheZhi.
A Listing That Peaked in a Week
Seyond, the Sunnyvale, California-based LiDAR maker formerly known as Innovusion, went public in Hong Kong on December 10 through a merger with the special purpose acquisition company TechStar, raising about HK$1.03 billion ($131 million).
Nio‘s subscription sat alongside state-backed Huangshan Construction Investment, Fuce Group and Huagai Capital in the PIPE tranche.
The shares opened their first day at HK$11, touched HK$16.50 and closed at HK$13.30, valuing the company at HK$17.27 billion — and hit an all-time high of HK$17.88 on December 17, one week after the debut.
Shares never recovered that level, drifting around the HK$10 issue price before slipping below it for good on March 13. From the December peak to Thursday’s close, the decline stands at 81%.
A Supplier Built by Nio
Seyond is among the most complete expressions of founder William Li’s investment flywheel, with Nio-affiliated entities present at every stage of the company’s development — which makes the December stake only the most recent layer of exposure.
Nio Capital, the investment firm founded by Li and managing partner Ian Zhu in 2016, led the company’s $30 million Series A in August 2019, alongside Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital, and lists Seyond among its portfolio companies as a “long-term strategic partner” — with Zhu and other Nio Capital executives standing on stage at the December listing ceremony.
Nio then became the first brand to fit LiDAR as standard equipment across its entire lineup, mounting Seyond‘s Falcon long-range unit on the roofline of every Nio-brand model since the ET7, turning the startup into a volume manufacturer almost overnight.
In aggregate, Nio-affiliated entities hold about 11.7% of Seyond, making the camp the largest shareholder after founder Junwei Bao — a position whose value has tracked the stock down through every leg of the decline.
The dependence the relationship created is stark.
Nio accounted for 88.7% of Seyond‘s revenue in 2022, 90.6% in 2023, 91.6% in 2024 and 82.0% in 2025, according to CheZhi.
Due to Nio‘s delivery surge, Seyond achieved positive gross margin for the first time in 2025, at 7.9%.
The Diversification Race
Figures emerging in 2026 show the company beginning to loosen the single-customer dependence — which makes the timing of the collapse notable.
In the first quarter, Nio‘s share of revenue fell below 80% for the first time, to about 74%, per CheZhi, as other design-win customers — SAIC Volkswagen, GAC Group, SAIC Motor’s passenger-car unit, Foton and Shaanxi Automobile — begin ramping production of models carrying Seyond lidar.
Seyond delivered 365,000 lidar units in the first five months of 2026, a 349% increase from a year earlier and already more than its full-year 2025 total, according to a company announcement.
Units for advanced driver-assistance systems reached about 332,700, up 323%, while lidar for robotics, solutions and other applications totaled about 32,300 units — an increase of 1,177%, the segment the company is counting on as its second growth engine.
Seyond held cash and cash equivalents of $105.9 million as of December 31, per its annual results.
