China's new energy vehicle industry has been a darling of the investor community in recent years, with some champions closing mega fundraising deals and going public on US and Hong Kong exchanges one after another.
In many ways, China is indeed in pole position in the global race to develop electricity-powered, intelligent connected vehicles and a bunch of other things that underpin this burgeoning sector. A broad-based market, the technological prowess, supply chain advantages, a favorable policy climate, the country's carbon peak and carbon neutrality strategy, and even the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict which pushed up oil prices to elevated levels... all these factors are fast-tracking the adoption of homegrown NEV models and their upstream and downstream partners.
On the other hand, problems are myriad. Capacity shortages plague much of the sector, chip shortages restrict output, surging raw material costs add to sticker prices, an inadequate charging pile network dampens consumer interest, and needless to say, safety hazards, especially battery deficiencies, are something the much-touted NEV makers cannot skirt if they were to go further.
For smart mobility, we at EqualOcean have identified 20 companies worth watching in Q1. The core criterion is to receive venture capital investments of over USD 30 million on average or the equivalent value in CNY in a single round. When compiling the list, we also considered factors such as growth prospects, brand influences and reputation, as well as planned expansions.
From SMEs about to make their mark in the market, to well-established companies that have already raised significant funds and are still seeking further capital injections, here's a list you won't want to miss.
Jidu Auto
EV maker Jidu Auto (Chinese: 集度汽车) received on January 26 USD 400 million from its Series A financing round from its two shareholders Baidu and Geely. Before this round, Baidu and Geely owned a 55% and 45% stake in the company, respectively. Jidu designs and sells NEVs in China. It is expected to showcase its first model at the 2022 Beijing Auto Show and mass-produce the car in 2023.
Svolt
Great Wall Motor controlled EV battery maker Svolt (Chinese: 蜂巢能源) received CNY 322 million (USD 50 million) from Hangzhou Hanzhi Fund on January 19, which owned a 0.7% stake in Svolt. This transaction gave Svolt a post-money valuation of CNY 46 billion (USD 7.2 billion). GWM spun off Svolt in 2018, which became the world's 10th-largest EV battery maker by installed capacity in 2021.
GAC Aion
EV maker GAC Aion (Chinese: 广汽埃安) in mid-March bagged CNY 2.57 billion (USD 400 million) from three strategic investors China Chengtong Holdings Group, China Southern Power Grid and its employee stock ownership platform Aion Fund. Guangzhou Industrial Investment and Capital Operation Holding Group, Guangzhou City Construction Investment, Guangzhou Financial Holding, Guangzhou Light Industry Group invested CNY 462 million through the Aion Fund in the EV maker, holding 1.18% of Aion's total equity. GAC Aion is valued at CNY 39 billion (USD 6.1 billion) on a pro-rata basis.
DST
DST (Chinese: 地上铁) finalized its Series D financing round worth USD 200 million from China Capital Investment Group and INGKA Holding in early January. DST was incorporated in 2015 by female entrepreneur Zhang Haiying. The company offers the logistics industry with new energy car fleet rental and operational services.
Inceptio
Self-driving truck company Inceptio (Chinese: 嬴彻科技) completed on February 28 a USD 188 million Series B+ round of financing led by Sequoia China and Legend Capital. The company was incorporated in 2018 by Ma Zheren, a graduate from Shanghai Jiaotong University, Illinois Institute of Technology and IMD.. He used to work at Tencent, Motorola and A.T. Kearney.
Sixents Technology
High-precision positioning service provider Sixents Technology (Chinese: 六分科技) on February 28 closed a CNY 620 million (USD 97 million) Series B round of funding from a fund affiliated with Tusholdings, TH Capital, CDH fund and other investors. The company was incubated by Navinfo.
PATEO
Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology and solutions specialist PATEO (博泰车联网) received CNY 300 million (USD 47 million) in early March from strategic investor Shanghai Guosheng Group. Before this, it had netted nearly CNY 2 billion (USD 312 million) of financing from FAW, Dongfeng and Xiaomi. The company, established by Ying Yilun in 2009, designs and sells products like LCD instruments, head-up display and rear-seat entertainment systems.
Smarter Eye
Perception solution provider Smarter Eye (Chinese: 中科慧眼) in early January closed a CNY 300 million (USD 47 million) Series B funding round from a investor group led by Guokai Technology Venture Investment, Lenovo Haihe Fund and Junyue Capital. Guokai Equipment Manufacturing Industial Investment Fund Co., Ltd. and Moom Group also took part in this round. The company's products are used on automatic emergency braking systems. Its founder, Jiang An, specialized in vision algorithms at Nokia and Microsoft. He incorporated the company in 2014.
Waytous
Self-driving company Waytous (Chinese: 慧拓) raised CNY 300 million (USD 47 million) in its Series C funding round from CICC and Yuexiu Industrial Fund on January 13. The Chinese Academy of Sciences incubated the company. Waytous offers self-driving and remote driving systems for mining trucks and V2X products.
Global Technology
In the Series B++ round, Global Technology (Chinese: 格陆博科技) netted CNY 200 million (USD 31 million) from a cohort of investors consisting of Baidu Ventures, Xin Ding Capital, Value Capital and others on March 4. Founded in 2016, the company specializes in developing drive-by-wire system that aims to replace the legacy mechanical structure with electronic signals. Liu Zhaoyong founded the company and he is an industry veteran who once worked at Dongfeng and Bethel Auto Safety Systems.
Pegasus
Autonomous driving start-up Pegasus (Chinese: 云骥智行) received in late February hundreds of millions of CNY in an angel round, led by Hillhouse Capital, with participation from Walden International, V Fund, Pine VC and Country Garden Venture Capital participated. Pegasus was incorporated in November 2021.
Calterah
CMOS millimeter-wave radar chip designer Calterah (Chinese: 加特兰) on January 21 closed a Series C+ round of funding worth hundreds of millions of CNY. The investment consortium was led by Fosun Capital, China Merchants Capital, Gopher Asset Management, Green Harbor Investment and Juntong Capital. Calterah was founded in 2014 by Chen Jiashu, who obtained his PhD in E&E at the University of California, Berkeley.
Iventchip Technology
Silicon carbide-based power semiconductor maker Iventchip Technology (Chinese: 瞻芯电子) closed on February 16 a round of strategic investment for an undisclosed amount from XPeng. Prior to this, the company received hundreds of millions of CNY in its Series A++ funding round from State Development and Investment Corporation, Xiaomi and Lightspeed China Partners. The company was founded in 2017 by PhD-holder Zhang Yongxi, who once worked at Texas Instruments.
Jichen Hydrogen Technology
Hydrogen-fuel cell expert Jichen Hydrogen Technology (骥翀氢能) on January 17 netted hundreds of millions of CNY in its Series A round from investors led by Henan Zhanxin hydrogen energy phase II industrial fund. The company would use the money on R&D, capacity building, team expansion and product application. Fu Yu founded the company in 2018.
Zvision
Lidar maker Zvision (Chinese: 一径科技) received an undisclosed amount of investment from Baidu and CICV in March. The two companies possess 5% and 1.5% of the company following the deal. Two months ago, Zvision scooped hundreds of million CNY in its pre-Series C round from a group of investors led by XPeng. The company was founded in 2017 by Tsinghua University PhD-holder Shi Tuo, who once led the research on silicon photonics at SiFotonics.
Xysemi
Power semiconductor innovator Xysemi (Chinese: 赛芯) completed on March 4 a CNY 80 million pre-IPO additional round of financing, led by Daohe Fund. This came hard on the heels of a pre-IPO round of funding Xysemi closed in January this year from China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, Goertek and other backers. The two rounds of financing totaled more than CNY 300 million. Xysemi provides battery information management and battery protection chips. The company was founded in 2019 by Tan Jian, a PhD graduate of Purdue University and founder of Enpirion, a company Altera later acquired.
EVAS
Self-driving chip designer EVAS (Chinese: 奕行智能科技) on February 28 raised close to CNY 200 million (USD 31 million) in its angel round from a consortium led by semiconductor-focused investor CTC Capital and Sunic Capital. The company was founded by a group of talented individuals led by Liu Hui, a veteran with over 20 years of working experience at STMicroelectronics, Fujitsu Semiconductor and Cadence.
NOVAUTO
Intelligent driving solution provider NOVAUTO (Chinese: 超星未来) bagged CNY 100 million (USD 15.6 million) in its Series A2 round of financing in early March from Gaoyuan Capital. The company was incubated by Tsinghua University in 2019 and certified as a national high-tech enterprise and one of Beijing's "little giant" enterprises.
EVTECH
EV components manufacturer EVTECH (Chinese: 富特科技) acquired a CNY 100 million strategic investment on January 12 from Xiaomi Group's subsidiary, which holds 4.7619% of its shares in exchange. The company is valued at approximately CNY 2.1 billion (USD 328 million) after the transaction. EVTECH produces on-board charger and DC/DC converter. The company's clients include Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, LG, ICS, Great Wall, GAC, NIO and XPeng.
Chuhang Tech
Millimeter wave radar designer Chuhang Tech (Chinese: 楚航科技) raised CNY 100 million in its Series B round of funding from China Creation Venture around early March. A group of talented individuals who returned from Germany established the company in 2018.