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DeepWay is moving fast, and not just on the road. The Baidu-backed electric truck maker has officially filed for a Hong Kong IPO, setting up what could be its biggest leap yet as it pushes beyond China and pours more money into autonomous driving and smart vehicle development.
The timing is hard to ignore. DeepWay’s revenue hit roughly €506 million in 2025, more than doubling from about €252 million a year earlier. That kind of jump gets attention in any corner of the auto industry, but it matters even more in the heavy-duty EV space, where scale is difficult, margins are tight, and credibility has to be earned truck by truck.
Deliveries tell the same story. DeepWay shipped 8,020 trucks in 2025, up sharply from 3,002 in 2024 and just 509 in 2023. According to its Hong Kong filing, that performance placed the company ninth in China’s new energy heavy-duty truck market. For a business founded only in 2020, that is a serious climb.
Still, this is not a victory lap. DeepWay remains loss-making, posting a net loss of about €83 million in 2025. That tension is familiar across the EV sector: rapid growth on one side, expensive expansion on the other. Building commercial electric vehicles is capital-intensive by nature, and adding in advanced software and autonomous driving systems only raises the stakes.
Built as a software-led truck company
What makes DeepWay stand out is the way it has approached truck development from the start. Rather than adapting legacy platforms, the company says it has built its electric heavy trucks from the ground up, integrating battery technology and autonomous driving software into the core architecture. In simple terms, it is trying to behave less like a traditional truck maker and more like a full-stack mobility company.
That matters because the future of freight is unlikely to be defined by hardware alone. Fleet operators increasingly care about energy efficiency, digital management tools, route optimization, predictive maintenance, and the promise of driver-assistance systems that can cut costs and improve safety. DeepWay has already begun generating recurring income from software subscriptions, a small but telling sign that it wants revenue beyond one-off vehicle sales.
The company’s shareholder list also adds weight. Baidu currently holds a 13.48% stake, linking DeepWay to one of China’s biggest technology names and one of its most visible autonomous driving players. In a market where investors want more than manufacturing ambition, that connection helps shape DeepWay’s identity as a tech-driven commercial EV brand.
Before heading toward its public listing, DeepWay also brought in more than €270 million through several pre-IPO funding rounds. Recent backers include UAE-based Stone and Australian pension fund NGS Super, a mix that says something important about where the company sees its next phase coming from.
And that next phase looks increasingly international. DeepWay is targeting overseas markets including the Middle East, Australia, and Southeast Asia, regions where commercial electrification is gaining momentum but where market structures still leave room for new entrants. For a truck startup, those are not casual choices. They are markets where logistics demand is strong, government policy is evolving, and operators are beginning to weigh the long-term economics of electric fleets more seriously.
The proceeds from the Hong Kong IPO are expected to go mainly toward continued research and development in smart vehicle technology. DeepWay also plans to use the funds to widen its sales network and support construction of its Changxing smart factory for core EV components.
CICC and CMB International are serving as joint sponsors for the offering.
DeepWay’s filing does not mean the hard part is over. In many ways, it means the hard part is beginning. Growth is one thing. Turning that growth into a durable, profitable global truck business is another. But for now, DeepWay has made one point very clearly: it does not want to remain a niche Chinese EV truck startup. It wants to become a serious player in the next era of commercial transport.
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