"We need to think strategically with a long-term mindset and use that to guide our short-term actions," Li said.

(Image credit: Nio Capital)

Nio Capital recently held its annual investor conference in Hefei, Anhui province, where its managing partner William Li spoke and highlighted the choices Nio (NYSE: NIO), of which he is a founder, is making in times of uncertainty.

Li is not only at the helm of Nio Capital, a venture capital firm with a US dollar fund as well as a RMB fund, but is also the founder, chairman and CEO of Nio.

The conference was the first time in three years that Nio Capital brought together investors from its RMB and US dollar funds, and in addition to presentations and roundtable conversations, attendees toured Nio's manufacturing facilities, according to a press release today.

Li gave a keynote speech at the conference, sharing his views on the development of NEVs (NEVs) and corporate strategy, according to the release, which included a photo showing Li highlighting Nio's choice in times of uncertainty.

Last year was a landmark year for the global NEV industry, as global sales of NEVs exceeded 10 million for the first time, with China contributing close to 70 percent of the sales, according to Li.

Even during the Covid epidemic, China's NEV sales performance was still surprising, showing that the NEV industry has fully transitioned from being policy-driven to being product-driven and market-driven, which is a historic watershed, Li said.

Nonetheless, the future remains challenging, and increased uncertainty is a trend that almost everyone agrees on, he said.

"In today's world, we must learn to think about how to grow, how to manage risk, and how to take advantage of opportunities in a more volatile and uncertain world," Li said.

"We need to think strategically with a long-term mindset and use that to guide our short-term actions. We need to be more aggressive in meeting the challenges of the market while ensuring that the company's operational risks are manageable," he added.

Ian Zhu, another managing partner at Nio Capital, also spoke and said the venture capital firm has made aggressive investments in the areas of smart cockpits, battery technology, energy transition, semiconductors and automotive ecology since 2022.

Nio Capital didn't provide much more on Nio, though many of its investments are around the NEV industry chain and are sometimes made alongside Nio.

Nio and Nio Capital invested in fusion startup Neo Fusion, taking a 19.9 percent and 10.1 percent stake, respectively, according to a CnEVPost report last week.

Nio also seems to be hoping that Nio Capital's investment will help it get better access to resources for building more attractive electric vehicles.

Nio announced the panoramic digital cockpit PanoCinema when it launched the ET5 sedan on December 18, 2021.

It announced at that time the introduction of AR glasses developed jointly with Nreal, an AR technology company that is a portfolio company of Nio Capital.

NIO invests in nuclear fusion startup Neo Fusion