Physix Frontier
Baidu
Funding History
- IPOUSD 110M — Issue Price: USD 27.00 (per ADS, corresponding to 1 Class A ordinary share); Listing Market Cap: Approx. USD 800M–1B level at listing (issue price corresponds to approx. USD 940M); Shares Issued: 4,040,402 ADSs (Company new issuance 3,208,696 + Selling shareholder allocation 831,706); Lock-up Period: Standard 180-day lock-up period. Source: Prospectus/Exchange Disclosure
- Last Round Before IPOUSD 100M — Amount: Approx. USD 100M ($100,000,000); Led by: Google (participated) | This is the most intriguing deal in Baidu's financing history: Google invested in Baidu before its IPO. At the time, Google itself was preparing for its own IPO (2004-08-19). Logically, Google held Baidu shares to hedge against the risk of 'inability to directly enter the Chinese market'. More than a year later, Google went public, and officially launched its search engine in China in 2006—the two companies transformed from shareholder relationships into direct competitors. | Source: SEC 424B4 / Zen Horizon
- Series A RoundUSD 10M — Amount: $10M; $10,000,000; Led by DFJ (Draper Fisher Jurvetson) | Completed 9 months after the first round. This occurred during the early burst of the dot-com bubble, making securing $10M extremely difficult. DFJ is a global top-tier VC (having invested in Hotmail, Skype), and its entry established international credibility for Baidu. In 2001, Robin Li convinced shareholders at the board meeting to pivot Baidu from 'providing search technology to portal sites' to an independent search engine for end-users, implementing the 'Lightning Plan' to complete technical upgrades. | Source: Baidu Baike / SEC 424B4
- Angel and First Venture RoundUSD 1M — Amount: USD 1.2M; Led by: Peninsula Capital / Integrity Partners | By late 1999, Robin Li believed China's internet environment had matured and returned from the US to start a business. In 2000-01, he founded Baidu with USD 1.2M in venture capital, renting two rooms at Peking University Resources Hotel. The technical foundation was Li's "Hyperlink Analysis" patent held in the US—an independent invention from the same era and concept as Google's PageRank. Note the timing: just two months after this money arrived, NASDAQ peaked and the dot-com bubble began to burst. | Source: Baidu Baike / EqualOcean Data