AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/10 Report--

A few days ago, the lidar supplier Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "Ibeo") filed for bankruptcy in the court of Hamburg, Germany. The court in Hamburg, Germany has approved Ibeo to administer the bankruptcy proceedings on its own. The management of the company is still fully responsible for the operation and leads the search for investors.

According to the data, Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH was founded in 1998 to develop an emergency braking system based on laser scanning technology. It is known as the "ancestor of vehicle lidar". In 2000, Ibeo was acquired by German sensor system supplier Sick AG. Nine years later, it operated independently from Sick AG and began to focus on the development of intelligent driving direction lidar system. In 2010, Ibeo partnered with Valeo, a French auto parts supplier, to develop the on-board lidar product SCALA. In 2017, with the release of the fourth-generation Audi A8, SCALA finally achieved mass production. In 2016, the German auto parts supplier acquired EF as its shareholder. In 2017 and 2019, ibeo established subsidiaries in Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Detroit in the United States. In 2021, Ibeo partnered with AAC Technology.

In this process, Ibeo has gradually become the leading company of lidar sensors and related products and software tools, and related technologies are often used in cars and self-driving systems. why does Ibeo end up filing for bankruptcy when it has taken the lead in the layout of the road?

The main reason for filing for bankruptcy is "no further access to growth financing", according to the official announcement. It is understood that since its establishment in 1998, ibeo has only made public two rounds of financing. One is that in 2016, German auto parts company Zaifu took a fancy to Ibeo lidar and environmental sensing algorithm expertise and acquired a 40% stake in it. The second is that Chinese electro-acoustic components manufacturers will become shareholders in Ibeo in 2021 and plan to integrate their optics and imaging expertise into Ibeo's new generation of automotive products.

In addition to the lack of financing, as the "ancestor of on-board lidar", there are not many models to cooperate with it. In addition to the Audi A8 mentioned above, Ibeo signed a letter of intent with Great Wall Motor in 2019 to provide IbeoNEXT solid-state lidar for the Great Wall Wei SUV series, which is scheduled to go into production in 2022. Of course, ibeo is not the only lidar supplier to Great Wall Wei Brand. Suteng Juchuang announced in August 2022 that it will supply lidar for Wei's flagship Mocha DHT-PHEV lidar version.

As the "front wave" of the vehicle lidar industry, the current situation of Ibeo can also reflect the embarrassing situation of the industry. According to the total revenue ranking of lidar enterprises published by Yole Intelligence under Yole Group, a world-renowned market research and strategy consulting company, Wesai Technology ranked first, Quateng Juchuang ranked second, Velodyne ranked third, and Ouster ranked fourth.

Velodyne's total revenue in the second quarter of 2022 was about $11.51 million (81.91 million yuan), including $9.7 million (69.03 million yuan) from lidar sales, according to the financial report. Generally speaking, as the leading enterprise of lidar, the quarterly revenue of Velodyne is less than 100 million RMB, while for Ibeo, which has no financing, the financial pressure can be seen to be very great.

Of course, Ibeo's situation is also related to the current poor economic environment in Germany. About 718 German companies declared bankruptcy in August, up 26% from a year earlier, due to rising energy costs and supply chain bottlenecks, according to the Harley Institute of Economics (IWH). IWH warned of more bankruptcy filings in the autumn, which are expected to rise by about 25 per cent in September and 33 per cent in October.

Prior to this, Dr. Schneider, a veteran German car supplier, filed for bankruptcy in the district court, and preliminary bankruptcy proceedings have been initiated. According to public information, Dr. Schneider was founded in 1927 and the group has a production base in Judenbach, Thuringia, Germany, and factories in China, Poland, Spain and the United States. It is understood that Dr. Schneider's product portfolio includes ventilation systems, decorative covers, covers and components, as well as storage systems and center consoles. Major customers include Audi, BMW, Jaguar / Land Rover, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Rolls-Royce, as well as other world-renowned auto brands Ferrari, Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, GM, Maserati, Seattle, Skoda, Toyota, Volvo and Volkswagen. According to the data, Dr. Schneider earned about 451 million euros (3.1 billion yuan) in 2021.

In August, Dr. Schneider still said orders were in good shape, but he was also controlling costs and looking for investors. In September, Dr. Schneider issued a statement on the official website that because the funds had not been improved and the operation was unsustainable, he had to file for bankruptcy.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat