Baidu's investment in smart cars is becoming more and more targeted.
Author | Chapter Ripples
Among Chinese Internet players, Baidu is one of the earliest to become famous, and it is also an early company to invest in mergers and acquisitions.
According to enterprise investigation data, since 2007, Baidu has completed a total of 378 investment incidents and 313 investment projects. Among them, it reached its peak in 2018, and a total of 78 investments were completed throughout the year.
However, Baidu's investment in the automotive sector is not early, starting around 2013. As of February 2022, Baidu has made a total of 67 investments in automotive-related fields, including chips, mobility platforms, and autonomous driving systems.
Baidu's layout in the automotive field presents different characteristics according to different leaders. Among them, in 2013-2016, during the Wang Jin period, Baidu realized the autonomous driving business from "0" to "1", and the related investment was also in the exploration period, only a few projects were tested; 2017-2018 Lu Qi time, which can be seen as a business adjustment period, the proposal of the concept of "open source" also allowed Baidu to start to see enterprises in the field of intelligent driving cars more widely; since 2018, for the Li Zhenyu period, it has established a strategy of "climbing Mount Everest and laying eggs along the way", and the group's investment has also begun to focus on AI, Unmanned landing direction.
Δ Baidu automotive (AI) related investment
It can be seen that in recent years, Baidu's investment layout has generally had a clearer goal, expecting to be able to have business associations with invested enterprises, and paying more and more attention to smart cars.
01
Wang Jin period: the initial construction of the investment network
In April 2010, Wang Jin joined Baidu from Google (vice president of Google China Engineering Research Institute) as a senior vice president of Baidu. Three years later, he proposed to focus Baidu AI on the field of intelligent driving, which led to the birth of Baidu's unmanned driving.
It was also in this year that Baidu completed its first investment in the automotive sector. In August 2013, Baidu acquired SynTaoTong, a developer of automotive-specific navigation software.
Baidu's earliest investment was carried out by the strategic investment department, and Baidu's investment department is mainly divided into departments: strategy department, investment and merger department and investment logistics department, focusing on the group's strategic related investment and focusing on areas strongly related to Baidu's business.
Baidu Zhantou is considered to have a conservative investment style. Some media have reported that Robin Li's positioning of the strategic investment department is not a pathfinder to find opportunities for the company, but a procurement department that cooperates with and serves the development of the main business.
Δ Ruitu Wanfang (whose brand has "Daodaotong") established a strategic and capital partnership with Baidu in 2013.
Consistent with the overall investment tone, Baidu's autonomous driving business in this period is still in the framework stage, and there are only a few sporadic investments in automobile-related fields.
In 2014, Baidu strategically invested in Uber, a ride-hailing mobile app; participated in the Series A financing of Otms, a transportation management cloud platform; and in 2015, Baidu again participated in Otms' Series A+ financing.
In 2016, Baidu's investment in the automotive sector began to accelerate. In that year, Baidu strategically invested in VelodyneLidar and auto media e-car.com; participated in the B round financing of the online auto financial service platform Yixin Group, the B round financing of the transportation management cloud platform Otms, the angel round of the intelligent car federation of the autonomous driving and vehicle networking equipment research and development and testing platform, the D round financing of the automotive after-service e-commerce platform Tuhu Yangche.com, and the A round financing of the automotive after-sales service platform Lechebang.
Also in this year, after establishing the AI strategy, Baidu has established two completely independent investment companies, Baidu Venture Capital and Baidu Capital, forming a "trident" with Baidu's investment and merger department.
Among them, Baidu Venture Capital, which was established on September 13, 2016, focuses on investing in early projects in the field of artificial intelligence, as well as next-generation scientific and technological innovation projects such as AR and VR, and focuses on early projects, covering intelligent underlying technology, intelligent machine platform, and industry intelligent three-layer ecology. The first phase of the fund will reach $200 million.
Baidu Capital was announced on October 12, 2016, unlike Baidu Venture Capital, Baidu Capital is a mature fund similar to PE, mainly investing in mid- and late-stage projects in the pan-Internet field, with an average investment amount of 50 million US dollars to 100 million US dollars per project, not limited to RMB or US dollar projects, and for heavyweight projects, it will also increase the investment quota.
Through the operation of the above three major sectors, at the end of 2016, Baidu formed a more comprehensive layout for foreign investment.
02
Lu Qi period: for the "open source" service
In January 2017, Lu Qi left the position of executive vice president of Microsoft worldwide and officially joined Baidu as president and COO of Baidu Group. In March of the same year, it integrated Baidu's original intelligent car-related businesses into the Intelligent Driving Business Group (IDG), which was composed of the Autonomous Driving Division (L4), the Intelligent Vehicle Division (L3), and the CarLifeetc Business. Lu Qi personally serves as the general manager of IDG.
At the same time, Wang Jin also announced his departure from Baidu. Baidu's autonomous driving business has officially entered the "Lu Qi era".
After Lu Qi joined, he proposed the open source Baidu Apollo to do Android driverless. Lu Qi pointed out at the Electric Vehicle 100 Forum held in January 2018 that "you can simply imagine Apollo as an Android-like driverless, but more open and powerful than Android."
To some extent, the strategic decision of "Baidu Apollo open source" is the most long-term strategic significance for Baidu's development, and it has continued to this day.
Interestingly, Microsoft, where Lu Qi worked before, is an important representative of closed-source software.
Behind Baidu's open source Apollo, it implies its goal of becoming the largest entrance to the next generation of intelligent terminals.
On the one hand, "open source" is an important way to quickly break down the barriers of competitors; on the other hand, the complexity of the automatic system means that Baidu cannot complete it on its own, and it needs to unite car companies, suppliers and everything else that can be used. At the same time, at that time, Baidu was experiencing a wave of "personnel loss", and open source was also one of the best choices to resist the brain drain of internal core algorithms.
Δ Shenwan Hongyuan believes that Baidu Apollo's route of starting directly from L3-L4 cannot be landed in the short term, and even open source cannot achieve the effect of "viral expansion".
This year, Baidu's financing in the auto/AI-related field increased significantly. It is mainly an investment in data platforms, as well as communication infrastructure construction, and several automotive technology media.
In 2017, Baidu strategically invested in e-car, NIO and China Unicom, and acquired xPerception, a developer of voice wake-up and natural voice interaction technologies KITT.AI and a provider of machine vision software and hardware solutions. Participated in the A round of financing of 3D sensing system provider Yiguang Technology, the B round of financing of FalconComputing Solutions, the provider of big data application acceleration solutions, the A round of financing of Artificial Intelligence Voice Interaction Solution Provider Sound Intelligence Technology, the A round of TMT industry vertical media 36Kr Media, the angel wheel of the shared car operation platform Avenue, the B+ round financing of the car rental platform Shouqi Ride-hailing Car, and the B round financing of WM Motor, a provider of new energy vehicle products and travel solutions.
At the same time, in 2017, Baidu has successively established the Apollo Fund focusing on unmanned vehicle projects, the Dubu Fund focusing on artificial intelligence projects, as well as financial internal funds and AI industry funds.
03
Li Zhenyu period: more attention to landing applications
In 2018, Lu Qi, who has only been in office for more than a year, chose to leave Baidu. Previously, Baidu did not choose to "airborne" executives, but let "veteran" Li Zhenyu serve as the general manager of IDG.
Under the leadership of Li Zhenyu, Baidu IDG established the strategy of "climbing Mount Everest and laying eggs along the way", and began to consider that before climbing to the "unmanned" Everest, it is necessary to find and seize various opportunities to make money in the commercial landing in the short and medium term to feed the realization of the ultimate goal of long-term "unmanned driving".
Baidu's "Everest" refers to the two major targets of OS and Robotaxi in the field of intelligent driving, and the monetization method ("egg") aimed at mainly refers to the front-loading Tier1 to provide automakers with intelligent driving systems, intelligent transportation, car manufacturing, and vehicle networking solutions (in-vehicle DueerOS, voice assistants, Baidu maps, etc.).
Under this line of thinking, Baidu's investment in the field of intelligent and connected vehicles has accelerated significantly, including parts, landing scenarios, and the Internet of Vehicles, and is increasingly related to Baidu's own business development.
Δ Baidu intelligent driving business group product system. Source: Guosheng Securities
2018 can be described as a "big year" for Baidu's investment in the field of intelligent vehicles, mainly including chips, data processing, sensors, Internet of Vehicles and other fields.
Among them, in terms of chips, in 2018, Baidu participated in the sensor system solution provider Xinlun Optoelectronics Pre-A round; the photonic chip prototype board developer Xizhi Technology Seed Wheel; the integrated circuit chip and IP developer Xingxin Technology A round; cmOS millimeter wave radar chip developer Micro Core Chuang Angel Wheel; the neuromorphic computing and brain-like chip design developer SynSense Pre-A round; the Swiss brain-like chip manufacturer aiCTX Pre-A round.
In terms of data processing, he participated in the light computing startup Lightelligence seed round; the big data collection and analysis service provider Fule Technology A round; the data processing service provider Chuanglin Technology Angel Round; and the deep learning training platform Snark AI seed round.
In terms of sensors, it is involved in the LiDAR and space laser communication system developer Eleda Pre-A wheel; the autonomous radar developer Hesai Technology B wheel; piezoelectric MEMS sensor developer Vesper B wheel; and the autonomous driving sensor developer Lunewave seed wheel.
In terms of the Internet of Vehicles, he participated in the B+ round of The Linkage of The Internet of Vehicles and software service providers, the Angel Wheel of Lianlian Technology, the A round of visual CircuitThreat, a provider of Internet of Vehicles Security Solutions, and the strategic financing of Four-dimensional Zhilian, a service provider of Internet of Vehicles.
In addition, Baidu has also strategically invested in electronic equipment and intelligent manufacturing service provider Industrial Fulian and Commercial Vehicle Financial Services Platform Shiqiao; participated in WM Motor's C Round, The Heart A Round of Science and Technology Media Machines in the Field of Artificial Intelligence, and Wheel B of The Avenue for Sharing Car Operation Platform; as well as The Angel Wheel of Intelligent Driving Vehicle Developer Xidi Intelligent Driving and The Driverless System Supplier Zhixinger B Wheel.
From 2019 to February 2022, Baidu's investment rate slowed down, and about 19 transactions were completed in more than 3 years, including strategic investment in smart parking payment APP daily parking, geometric partners of autonomous driving technology developers, and chip design service provider Feiteng Information.
Participated in the artificial intelligence chip and solution provider Qingwei intelligent angel wheel, the artificial intelligence field of science and technology media machine heart pre-B round, face recognition service provider Apollo Zhixing angel wheel, edge computing service provider Jiangxing intelligent A wheel, cloud car loan service platform Zhonglian Huijie B wheel, photonic chip prototype board developer Xizhi Technology A round, automotive intelligent and networking service provider Yijiatong Technology A round, intelligent electric vehicle life cycle detection platform Qingyan precision A round Pre-A+ wheel, geometric partner of automatic driving technology developer; A round of AI chip developer Resynco; A round of intelligent car brand JiDU; A+ wheel of automobile supporting service company Qianhang Technology.
In addition, Baidu has also added the D wheel of WM Automobile, the A wheel of Micro Core, and the B+ wheel of Xidi Intelligent Driving.
Overall, after 2018, Baidu's investment in the field of smart cars has become more in-depth and more focused on landing applications.
Δ The organizational structure of Baidu's intelligent driving business has changed. Source: Shenwan Hongyuan
From Wang Jin to Lu Qi to Li Zhenyu, with the change of the person in charge of Baidu's autonomous driving business, its business layout and investment logic are constantly changing, and the overall direction is moving towards a clearer, more meticulous and more landing direction.
It can be seen that the layout of Baidu's automotive field is serving "open source" and ecology, and once Baidu becomes the "Android" in smart cars through the Apollo open source strategy, the commercial value can be infinitely expanded, but obviously this is a long-term, long, and extremely difficult process, Baidu needs more, more, more partners.
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