Congratulations to Horizon Robotics! The "crazy" one, now believed in | 5Y News
Congratulations to Horizon Robotics on its successful listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
On October 24, autonomous driving technology company Horizon Robotics (stock code: 9660.HK) officially listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Distinguished guests including Professor Dong Sun, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; his deputy Man-Lai Cheung; and Ms. Xiaoming Fang, representative of the HKEX Listing Committee, attended the listing ceremony. They joined Horizon Robotics founder and CEO Dr. Kai Yu, co-founder and CTO Dr. Chang Huang, co-founder and COO Ms. Feiwen Tao, President Dr. Liming Chen, non-executive directors Qin Liu and Liang Li, and SAIC Vice President Yong Wei in witnessing this milestone moment.
At 9:30 AM, Dr. Kai Yu walked to center stage and struck the opening gong, announcing Horizon Robotics' official listing. With this, Horizon Robotics became an autonomous driving technology company entering the international capital markets. In his speech at the listing ceremony, Dr. Yu said: "Founded in 2015, Horizon Robotics is the first and currently the largest Chinese company to mass-produce intelligent driving solutions. After nine years of effort, we have become the preferred partner for numerous automotive brands deploying intelligence in China, and an important driving force in the automotive intelligence transformation. The completion of this Hong Kong listing marks a crucial step for us toward the international market."
5Y Capital led Horizon Robotics' seed round in 2015, and subsequently participated in its Series A, B, and C financings. From the initial seed round to today's leading intelligent driving enterprise, we are honored to have witnessed and accompanied Horizon Robotics' development over these nine years.
Dr. Kai Yu, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, said: "5Y Capital has always been Horizon Robotics' most important shareholder and closest partner. This 'most important' is reflected in several ways. First, 5Y was Horizon Robotics' earliest investor, leading our first financing round, and has continued to support every subsequent round since then — they are our most steadfast supporter. Second, and most importantly, I believe 5Y is a true technology believer among VC investment institutions, convinced that hard technology will change the world exponentially, committed to long-termism, and finding kindred spirits among entrepreneurs through investment.
I believe 5Y's appeal lies not only in its outstanding investment performance, but also in the fact that the team led by Qin Liu itself possesses the original aspiration to change the world through investing in hard technology. Qin Liu is also my personal entrepreneurship mentor and a close friend with whom I have deep exchanges. At times when I felt lonely and despondent on my entrepreneurial journey, Qin Liu always gave me encouragement and support. When discussing technology strategy with me, his eyes would light up with passion that resonated deeply with me. When discussing organizational management, he was always patient in helping me strategize. Horizon Robotics feels incredibly fortunate to have such a good partner, mentor, and kindred spirit in faith and soul on our growth path. We have many wonderful stories worth savoring, and they have become the most important and beautiful rewards of my nine-year entrepreneurial journey!"
Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital, said: "When Kai Yu decided to found Horizon Robotics in 2015, I had a deep conversation with him through the night at Beijing's Four Seasons Hotel. While most entrepreneurs at the time were focused on technology and product, Kai Yu was already thinking from the height of the entire technology innovation industry, attempting to build a computing platform for robots and capture the value creation of software ecosystem empowerment. Kai Yu's combination of business thinking depth and technical literacy was deeply impressive.
After nine years of effort, Horizon Robotics has become a leading enterprise in intelligent driving. Throughout these nine years, Kai Yu has consistently demonstrated the rare qualities of a visionary entrepreneur with strong learning ability and execution capability. I believe this listing is a new starting point, and Kai Yu and Horizon Robotics will continue to drive breakthroughs and upgrades in intelligent driving technology through their vision, execution, and ability to continuously evolve, realizing their vision of 'empowering intelligent driving to make human life safer and better.' Best wishes to Horizon Robotics!"
As a market-leading supplier of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and high-level autonomous driving (AD) solutions for passenger vehicles, Horizon Robotics focuses on providing core technologies for ADAS and high-level intelligent driving, thereby improving driving safety and experience for drivers and passengers. To date, Horizon Robotics' software-hardware integrated solutions have been adopted by 27 OEMs (42 OEM brands), equipped on 290 vehicle models. Among these, all of China's top ten OEMs have chosen Horizon Robotics' intelligent driving solutions.
Going forward, Horizon Robotics will adhere to its corporate vision of "empowering intelligent driving to make human life safer and better," continue increasing R&D investment, and consistently create value for users through technological innovation, making everyone's travel safer, more convenient, and better.
We've compiled sharing sessions from different periods between Horizon Robotics founder Kai Yu and 5Y Capital founding partner Qin Liu at 5Y Capital's internal events. We can see how an entrepreneur with a grand vision continuously evolved over nine years — perhaps it will inspire you :)
From 0 to 0.1, Horizon Robotics Took Five Years
"The first step a startup goes through is the strategic experimentation phase, from 0 to 0.1. At this stage, it's really about whether the founder's idea is sound — this is the company's DNA, its grand vision. But you need to find the commercial entry point, so you have to trial-and-error and iterate. Different companies have different luck; some may start from a realistic opportunity, an immediate opportunity, and move through the 0 to 0.1 trial-and-error phase relatively quickly. But a business like Horizon Robotics is based on a vision for the future — it's unclear how to make money now, or who the customers are. It may take several years of trial-and-error and iteration. Horizon Robotics took about five years, with many dark moments along the way, like walking through a dark tunnel without seeing light.
In 2019, the intelligent vehicle market hadn't yet taken off, and as an upstream supplier in the industry chain, we had even less opportunity. That was a dark moment. During this period, you can't expect much from the team — setting KPIs is problematic when the business isn't even designed yet. So talking about processes and management at this stage is actually premature. The only thing to do is for the founder to iterate their understanding, and for the team to have trust in each other and belief in the general direction.
There isn't a particularly good strategic framework for this stage. It relies on enduring, surviving until that moment arrives, finding the business entry point, and winning amidst chaos. Once you find the first customer and have your first mass production, you start to realize this business design isn't an accidental deal — it follows patterns. With a second and third customer, it becomes a clear, universal demand that has been validated. Then you've reached the process from 0.1 to 1."
— Dr. Kai Yu, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics
"He Has Not Only Vision, But Also Execution"
"When Kai Yu decided to found Horizon Robotics in 2015, I had a deep conversation with him through the night at Beijing's Four Seasons Hotel. While most entrepreneurs were focused on technology and product, Kai Yu was already thinking from the height of the entire technology innovation industry. We also worried that an entrepreneur with such a grand vision might lack the ability to execute and design a path. At the time, I suggested to Kai Yu: first, whether he could find an entry point for this grand vision, and second, whether he could go win the first sales deal himself. He really did go win that first deal — this action-oriented style gave us more confidence.
Afterward, Kai Yu continued to prove our judgment: he has not only vision, but also execution. Later, when Horizon Robotics had already become a star company, I remember a phone call with Kai Yu that stuck with me. It was already past 11:30 PM, and he was still at a client's place closing a deal — completely fighting on the front lines of the business."
— Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital
Persisting Against Consensus, Time Itself Is a Moat
"A vision for the future is like a gravitational pull from the beyond — you may do many other things in between, but it will eventually guide you back to this place. I think one thing is particularly important: a startup must bet on something that seems small now, that large companies look down on, but that may have huge potential in the future. If you enter a market that was already mature at that time and compete head-to-head with established companies, you probably have no chance. On someone else's home turf, even if they make mistakes, it's only a tiny probability. You must persist against consensus and do non-mainstream things — this is a startup's only chance.
Sometimes we think about it: the field Horizon Robotics chose really isn't a good business. But now I feel that a 'bad business' is actually a good direction. Why? Because today's innovation in China doesn't lack smart people, nor does it lack massive capital. If you rely on a smart person or massive capital to build a business model, it's actually very unstable. Because tomorrow there will certainly be a team with even more impressive backgrounds that will similarly obtain funding. So we must think about what kind of business model is more competitive, more enduring, and has a moat.
We discovered that time is equal for everyone — time is non-fungible. If a team were to do this today, assuming everything goes smoothly, we'll see them in the market in 2027. Time itself is a moat. I think every entrepreneur must think about what their true non-consensus is."
— Dr. Kai Yu, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics
When the Crazy You in Others' Eyes Begins to Be Believed
"If you have a vision and mission ahead of the market, and are ambitiously committed to changing people's perceptions and industry status quo, and have decided to influence everyone around you through evangelism — congratulations, you will become a minority in people's eyes. At the same time, you need to be prepared: you will face others' ridicule and doubt, and the vast majority of outcomes will end in failure. But worse, you may be seen as a madman and a fraud, because the difference between genius and madman, between a visionary and a fraud, is only one step away. As 5Y Capital, which regards non-consensus as its core investment capability, for the crazy you in others' eyes, we are willing to cast a vote of belief in your precious conviction."
— Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital
5Y Capital seeks out, supports, and inspires lonely entrepreneurs, providing them with support from spirit to all business operations. We believe that if the crazy you in others' eyes begins to be believed, the world will become a different place.
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