He Xiaopeng (Chinese: 何小鹏; pinyin: Hé Xiǎopéng; born 3November 1977) is a Chinese entrepreneur, best known for co-founding companies including XPeng Motors, an intelligent electric vehicle manufacturer, and UCWeb,[2] the Chinese mobile Internet software and service provider he co-founded in 2004. UCWeb was acquired by Alibaba Group in June 2014 in the largest merger and acquisition deal ever in the 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 22 August 2017, Xiaopeng left Alibaba and officially joined XPeng Motors on 29 August as chairman of the startup.[5][1]
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
He co-founded UCWeb with Liang Jie in 2004 overseeing the company product strategy and R&D efforts. In June 2014, UCWeb was acquired by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group for $4,3 billion making He Xiaopeng a billionaire. From 2014 to August 2017, Xiaopeng served as senior executive of Alibaba Mobile Business Division.[7] On 22 August 2017, Xiaopeng officially announced his resignation from all his positions in Alibaba to start a new adventure and lead startup XPeng Motors.[8]
In 2014, He Xiaopeng supported Xia Heng and He Tao in the foundation of XPeng Motors, an electric self-driving vehicle automobile company.[9][10] 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.[11] XPeng's stated goal was to manufacture networked cars in China with capabilities like electrification, intelligence, networking and autonomous driving.[12] In September 2016, XPeng Motors released the beta version of its prototype G3 intelligent electric mini-SUV in Beijing. The car received positive reviews for its design, performance and technology.[13][14] He became full-time chairman of XPeng in August 2017.
XPeng Motors currently manufactures its G3 intelligent electric SUV in China, and distributes and supports its vehicles through a chain of retail and service centers across the country. The company's P7 intelligent electric sports coupe model is scheduled to come to market in the spring of 2020.
^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. ISBN978-7-111-28770-4.
