Zeekr, an electric vehicle brand of Chinese billionaire Li Shufu’s Geely Holding Group, announced on Monday that it has raised $750 million from investors, including Chinese billionaire Robin Zeng’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the battery maker of largest electric vehicle in the world by production capacity.
The funding round includes Israeli billionaire Amnon Shashua, co-founder and CEO of autonomous vehicle technology company Mobileye — acquired by software giant Intel in 2017 — and Yuexiu Industrial Fund, the investment arm of the municipal government of Guangzhou. The round valued the company, based in the coastal city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, at $13 billion.
The funding is “a vote of confidence in Zeekr’s growth prospects and strong future,” Daniel Donghui Li, chief executive of Hangzhou-based Geely Holding Group, said in a statement. “Geely Holding will continue to explore ways to deliver value across our portfolio as we pioneer new services and mobility solutions to meet customer demand around the world.”
The fresh capital will be used to build a global sales network and enhance its research and development in proprietary technologies, said Zeekr, which was launched by Geely in 2021. With AI-powered tools such as a system of “anti-skid” driving and a voice-activated car control assistant, the company’s flagship model, Zeekr 001, can travel 641 miles on a single charge. By comparison, Tesla’s longest-range Model S comes in at 396 miles.
Zeekr sold more than 70,000 cars last year, mostly in mainland China, and intends to tap into demand in Europe, the world’s second-largest electric vehicle market after China. In December, the company confidentially filed for an IPO in the US, according to Reuters. Zeekr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apart from Zeekr, Geely has collaborated with other manufacturers to produce electric vehicles. In 2021, it formed a joint venture with Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou’s Foxconn, best known as Apple’s iPhone maker, to offer contract manufacturing to electric car makers. Last July, it partnered with Chinese Internet giant Baidu to unveil its first fully autonomous electric vehicle, which does not include a steering wheel.
More broadly, domestic EV brands are benefiting from a continued nationwide push for green mobility. By 2022, deals in China’s electric vehicle sector will reach $5.95 billion, according to data from research firm Preqin. That year, Chinese billionaire Wang Chuanfu’s Shenzhen-based electric vehicle maker BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles. Despite ending subsidies for electric vehicle buyers in January, Beijing has reaffirmed its ambition to transition to “clean” transport, or electric and hybrid cars, by 2035.
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