After new round of financing, the Chinese electric car maker is valued at USD 1.03 billion.
A Leapmotor S01 model. Image credit: Leapmotor website.
Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Leapmotor (零跑汽车) announced a Series A+ round of funding on August 3. Jinhua Zhongche Fund (金华中车基金) solely invested in this round.
Leapmotor’s parent company Dahua Technology disclosed the fundraising size to be USD 51.9 million, boosting the valuation of Leapmotor to USD 1.03 billion. Dahua’s stake in the new car maker fell from 16.32% to 15.5%, while the Jinhua investment fund took 5.06% of Leapmotor’s shares after the financing round.
So far, the car maker has closed three rounds of funding. It completed its Pre-Series A round on January 29, 2018, raising USD 57.7 million from Sequoia capital.
On November 20 last year, it announced a Series A round of financing totaling USD 288.2 million Shanghai Electric and CRRC led this round, with participation also from Gopher asset management company, Industrial Securities and existing shareholder Sequoia.
The funds raised would be a shot in the arm for Leapmotor given big operating losses the car maker has incurred. Net losses of Leapmotor reached USD 43.2 million in 2018 and USD 28.8 million over the course of the first half of 2019.
On January 3, Leapmotor launched its first electric vehicle S01 and delivered 10 units on June 28. It looks to deliver 10,000 S01 EVs by the end of 2019 and release another two models in 2020.
Founded in 2015, the company is headquartered in Hangzhou. The company’s business scope covers intelligent EV manufacturing, intelligent driving, motor electronic control, battery system development and computing-based car networking solutions.