William Li is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of NIO (NYSE: NIO) and a Managing Partner of NIO Capital. In November 2014, Li founded NIO with the mission to shape a joyful lifestyle by offering high-performance smart electric vehicles and the ultimate user experience, and to create a community starting with smart electric vehicles where users can share joy and grow together with NIO. In September 2018, NIO went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Li is a serial entrepreneur. He established Bitauto Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: BITA) in 2000, and serves as Chairman of the Board. Bitauto is one of the biggest providers of internet content and marketing services in China's automotive industry. As one of the first internet entrepreneurs in China, Li founded Beijing Antarctic Technology Development Co., Ltd., one of the earliest internet companies in China, when he was at Peking University. In 1997, he co-founded Kewen Books, which later developed into Dangdang, an e-commerce company in China. Up until now, William Li has founded, co-founded and invested in over 40 companies in the internet and automotive industries.  

In January 2018, Li was named one of the top 10 economic leaders of China in 2017 by Sina Finance, People's Daily and Wu Xiaobo Channel. In 2008, he was selected as one of the 10 most influential people in China’s automotive industry over the past 30 years by the China Automobile Dealers Association.

Born in Anhui, China, Li received his bachelor's degree in sociology and minored in law at Peking University.