He Xiaopeng

He Xiaopeng
Native name 何小鹏 / Hé Xiǎopéng
Born (1977-11-03) 3 November 1977
Huangshi, Hubei, China
Residence Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Nationality Chinese
Alma mater South China University of Technology
Occupation Chairman of XPENG Motors[1]
Known for Co-founding UCWeb and XPENG Motors

He Xiaopeng (Chinese: 何小鹏; pinyin: Hé Xiǎopéng; born 3 November 1977) is a Chinese entrepreneur, best known for co-founding companies including, XPENG Motors, an intelligent electric vehicle startup and UCWeb Inc.,[2] the Chinese mobile Internet software and service provider he co-founded in 2004. UCWeb was acquired by China’s ecommerce giant Alibaba Group in June 2014 in the largest M&A deal ever in Chinese Internet industry.[3][4] After acquisition, he was named as president of UCWeb and president of the Alibaba Mobile Business Group, and later served as the president of Tudou & Ali Games.

On August 22, 2017, Xiaopeng left Alibaba and officially joined XPENG Motors on August 29 as the chairman of the startup.[5] [1]

Early life and education

Born in Huangshi, Hubei, where he spent his childhood. He graduated from the Guangzhou's South China University of Technology[6] with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science.

Career

He worked at Asiainfo Technologies in various roles including technology manager, testing manager and project manager after graduation in his early career.

UCWeb:2004-2017

Xiaopeng found that the network coverage was poor and only limited applications were available on the mobile phone. In 2004 left the job to co-found UCWeb with Liang Jie in 2004 to provide better mobile internet experience.[6] They applied a cloud architecture that combined the computing of both server and clients to its mobile browser. The company first received RMB 4 million from investor Lei Jun in 2006 and then received $10 million from Morningside Venture Capital and Ce Yuan Ventures in August 2007.[7][8] He co-founded UCWeb with Liang Jie in 2004,[6] overseeing the company’s product strategy and R&D efforts. He worked alongside the company’s management team by utilizing his experience in tech and understanding of the needs of mobile users to pull off success for UCWeb’s flagship product UC Browser by attracting over 500 million users the world over and achieving market leader position in both China (over 65%) and India (over 32%).[9][10]

In 2011, He and his team developed proprietary U3 kernel, being the first proprietary technology developed in the mobile browser industry in China.[11] In the same year, he was awarded Top 15 “Innovation Talents” by the City of Guangzhou, the capital city of China's southern Guangdong province. By 2014, UC browser became the third most used mobile browser in the world.[12] In June 2014, UCWeb was acquired by China’s ecommerce giant Alibaba Group.[13] After the merger, He Xiaopeng served successively as the president of the Alibaba Mobile Business Group, chairman of Ali Games and president of Tudou Inc. From 2014 to August 2017, Xiaopeng served as president of Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Group’s mobile business division including Tudou.[14] On August 22, 2017, Xiaopeng officially announced his resignation from all his positions in Alibaba.[15]

XPENG Motors: 2017-present

XPENG G3

In 2014, Xiaopeng with Henry Xia and He Tao co-founded XPENG Motors, an electric self-driving vehicle automobile company.[16][17] The company received initial investments from Li Xueling, Fu Sheng, Wu Xiaoguang, Zhang Ying, and other investors to work on autonomous driving engineering and machine learning.[18] Xiaopeng announced that the company is working on manufacturing networked cars in China with capabilities like electrification, intelligence, networking and autonomous driving.[19] In September 2016, XPENG Motors released the beta version of the prototype car in Beijing, which the first Internet car available to the people for the test drive. The car received positive reviews for its design, performance and the technology.[20][21]

In June 2017, XPENG Motors completed Series A of financing, which was led by UCAR with a total investment amount of RMB 2.2 billion. In December 2017, Xiaopeng announced that XPENG Motors has completed the Series A+ of financing from Alibaba Group, GGV, Morningside and IDG Capital.[1][22] In January 2018, XPENG Motors has completed RMB2.2 billion Series B round of funding backed by Alibaba Group, Foxconn and IDG Capital.[23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "XPENG Motors Completes Three Series A+ Financing Rounds". FinSMEs. 2017-12-18. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  2. ↑ company profile, BusinessWeek
  3. ↑ Alibaba to buy out UCWeb in China's biggest internet merger, Reuters, June 11, 2014
  4. ↑ Alibaba Fully Buys Out UCWeb in China's Biggest Internet Deal Ever, Forbes magazine, June 11, 2014
  5. ↑ "Alibaba invests in Xpeng Motors". Gasgoo. 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  6. 1 2 3 网络光芒——中国互联网的力量与信心 [Network Superstars: The Power and Confidence Behind the Chinese Internet] (in Chinese). DynoMedia Inc. 2010. pp. 92–95. ISBN 978-7-111-28770-4.
  7. ↑ Russell, Jon (2014-03-21). "Chinese Browser-Maker UCWeb Cross 500 Million Users". The Next Web. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  8. ↑ "UC Browser goes past 500 million global users | Digit.in". Digit. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  9. ↑ Mobile browser-maker UCWeb, another global tech firm under the radar, crosses 500m users, TheNextWeb
  10. ↑ UC Browser goes past 500 million global users "According to Chinese research firm iResearch, UC Browser dominated China’s mobile browser market in 2013 with over 65% of the market share... StatCounter's data shows that UC Browser leads the overall mobile browser category in India with 32% market share."
  11. ↑ Xiaopeng He, Founder and President of UC Browser, talks about the technology behind the most popular mobile browser, CEOWorld magazine, March 14, 2014
  12. ↑ Russell, Jon (2015-01-07). "UC Browser World's Largest Third-Party Mobile Browser: Statcounter". NDTV. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  13. ↑ Lim, Jason. "Alibaba Fully Buys Out UCWeb in China's Biggest Internet Deal Ever". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  14. ↑ Shumin, Liao. "Alibaba's Investment in XPENG Underscores BAT's NEV Race". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  15. ↑ "Ali entered the new car BAT Xiaopeng investment field repairer". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  16. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Chinese electric car startup Xiaopeng raises $350 million from Alibaba and Foxconn". Techstartups.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  18. ↑ "He Xiaopeng: the car repairer is Xiaopeng either cross or filled crater | waonews". www.waonews.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  19. ↑ "Alibaba-Backed He Xiaopeng Bets Entire Fortune On Another "Tesla Killer" | CleanTechnica". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  20. ↑ "China's e-car players are plugged in and ready to go". Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  21. ↑ "CES 2018: XPeng G3 takes on Tesla - Car Design News". Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  22. ↑ Ming, Cheang (2017-12-15). "Alibaba's latest bet shows transportation is the next battleground for China's tech giants". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  23. ↑ "Alibaba & Foxconn Leading $347 Million EV Startup Funding Round | CleanTechnica". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
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