最近科技界有哪些令人興奮的消息呢？首先是上周三有新聞稱，一家已經成立快20年的創業公司“調查猴子”（SurveyMonkey）已經提交了上市文件——盡管它的業績向來平平。與此同時，成立不到三年的中國電動汽車制造商蔚來汽車也提交了上市申請。雖然蔚來汽車現在還沒做出什么成績，但它對資金的胃口卻著實不小。

蔚來汽車提交的上市文件稱，該公司的中文譯名是“藍天將至”的意思。不過從上市文件上看，這家公司許諾給投資者的，除了藍天，確實就沒什么別的東西了。蔚來汽車去年才將第一款車型推向市場，目前只賣出了不到500輛。（注：這里并非筆誤，正確的數量就是500輛。）今年上半年，蔚來汽車的銷售額只有700萬美元，而負債則達到5億美元（再次注明，這仍然不是筆誤。）

換句話說，蔚來汽車相比于特斯拉，正如特斯拉相比于其他傳統汽車廠商——一個光鮮亮麗的東西，卻將自己打扮得像一家真正的公司一樣。

蔚來汽車企圖靠上市圈到10億美元，這不由得讓我們想起了20年前的“.com”泡沫。當時，很多創業公司也將前景描述得天花亂綴，企圖將股民都忽悠成天使投資人。即便如此，被忽悠瘸的股民也是有不少的。這些公司的下場一般都不會太好。

除了勃勃野心，蔚來汽車就沒什么其他東西了。“我們相信，更加先進的智能電動汽車技術，加上更好的擁車體驗，將推動人們對智能電動汽車的青睞和采用，從而實現我們為地球帶來藍天、帶一個更加可持續發展的未來的愿景。”該公司的CEO寫道。除了賣愿景，蔚來汽車還有幾個重量級的投資人，比如高瓴資本和中國互聯網巨頭騰訊等（這兩家公司共擁有該公司近四分之一的股份）。

蔚來汽車的上市文件還有幾處值得注意的地方。首先它的“風險”是我見過的上市文件里最多的，從地緣政治風險，到對復雜資本結構毫無經驗的風險。另外，這份上市文件還用了好幾頁的篇幅，宣揚中國汽車市場的吸引力，但這些都沒改變一個事實——這家公司連500臺汽車都沒賣出去。

資本主義是個光鮮的東西，所謂的透明資本市場也是如此。股民有權利向未經證實的創業理念押寶，就好像不會有人拉著他們的胳膊，不讓他們坐到拉斯維加斯的賭桌前面一樣。（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

These are exciting times. Wednesday brought news that a long-in-tooth startup, SurveyMonkey, wants money from investors despite its lackluster results. Around the same time a barely three-year-old Chinese electric car maker called NIO also filed to go public. It, however, is attempting to raise even more cash despite having accomplished almost nothing at all.

Amusingly, NIO’s Chinese name translates into “blue sky coming,” according to the company’s securities filing. That’s appropriate because NIO’s promise to investors is all blue sky—and little else. The company shipped its first car last year and to date has delivered just under 500 of them. [Note: not a typo. Five hundred is the right number.] NIO rang up sales of $7 million in the first half of the year while losing half a billion dollars. [Again, not a typo.]

In other words, NIO is to Tesla (tsla, -0.42%) what Tesla is to any established car marker: a bright, shiny object masquerading as a real company.

NIO’s attempt to raise more than $1 billion is reminiscent of the dot-com bubble of nearly two decades ago. Back then frothy new companies offered regular investors the opportunity to pretend to be venture capitalists. They too could throw down on startups with no track records. Things generally didn’t go so well.

NIO is nothing if not ambitious. “We believe that improved smart electric car technologies, coupled with better experience of car ownership, will drive increased appreciation and adoption of smart electric cars, leading to the fulfillment of our vision of blue skies and a more sustainable future for our planet,” its CEO writes. It also counts heavyweight investor Hillhouse Capital and Internet giant Tencent as backers. (The two own nearly a quarter of the company.)

NIO’s offering document is notable in other ways. I can’t remember seeing a longer list of “risks,” from geopolitical concerns to its own inexperience to a complicated capital structure. It also contains page after page of fascinating information about the Chinese automotive market, none of which changes the fact that NIO hasn’t yet shipped 500 cars.

Capitalism is a glorious thing, as are transparent capital markets. Investors are free to gamble on unproven upstarts, just as there’s nothing stopping them from pulling the arm on a slot machine in Vegas.