William Li

William Li is the founder and CEO of NIO, the Chinese smart electric vehicle company. He built a reputation as one of China's most formidable fundraisers, with 暗涌Waves describing him as "possibly the most capital-sensitive IR in the country" for his repeated ability to secure critical investment at moments of existential risk . Before NIO, he had already taken two companies public — Bitauto and Yixin — and engineered a well-timed exit from Mobike, giving early investors confidence that "doing things with Li Bin means making money" .

His fundraising for NIO has been marked by dramatic rescues. In 2019, after being rejected by 18 cities and seeing top funds like Hillhouse and Sequoia dump their shares, he secured a 7 billion RMB lifeline from Hefei's government investment platform that pulled NIO "out of the ICU" . That same year, Tencent's investment representative reportedly issued a two-month ultimatum to solve the money problem or cut costs . By 2023, he had pivoted again to Middle Eastern capital, pulling in roughly 23 billion RMB from Abu Dhabi's CYVN across two deals . Li's personal willingness to put skin in the game — he told Lei Jun he was prepared to invest $150 million of his own money — was pivotal in convincing skeptics .