Aion, an electric vehicle marque of Guangzhou Automobile Corporation group, raised CNY 18.29 billion from its A-round financing, which is expected to be used in stabilization of supply chain, new product development and core technology R&D.
On Oct 20, Guangzhou Automobile Corporation announced that its NEV marque Aion (Chinese: 广汽埃安) has completed A-round financing of CNY 18.29 billion (USD 2.52 billion), which was jointly invested by PICC Capital Equity Investment (Chinese: 人保资本), China Southern Power Grid Equity Investment Capital (Chinese: 南网能创), Chinese Structual Reform Fund (Chinese: 国调基金), Shenzhen Capital Group (Chinese: 深创投), CITIC Goldstone Fund Management Company (Chinese: 中信金石), Guangzhou Industrial Investment Fund Management Company (Chinese: 广州产投集团).
The company stated that this investment provides Aion with an advantage of possessing key strategical upstream and downstream industrial resources, helps stabilize supply side capabilities and supports Aion's new product development as well as core technology R&D including smart drive and smart cockpit development, which will significantly strengthen Aion's future competitive advantage.
Established in 2018, GAC Aion is an NEV marque incubated by GAC group. With an aim to step into the private car market, Aion has already launched numerous products, such as Aion S, Aion LX and Aion V. The company's sales have been increasing with 182,300 cars sold in the first three quarters of 2022, compared to 60,000 cars sold in 2020 and 120,200 cars sold in 2021.
According to a previous timetable drafted by the senior management team in Aion, series B-round of financing will begin in the second half of 2022, hoping to go IPO by 2023.