Q1 2021 China AV Industry Recap
We wrapped up Q1 2021 with the breaking news of Xiaomi’s official confirmation on entering the booming EV market, which could be for another post. Here are the other major events.
1. in-driving is a Wuhan based startup providing domain controllers and software for L2.5 to L4 autonomous driving. It has worked with Dongfong on a L4 model “SharingVAN” and Hongqi on a robotaxi model. The company recently completed a pre-A round financing.
2. & 15. On March 23, ECARX announced the plan to set up a new joint venture with Volvo Cars to develop infotainment system platform for smart vehicles. It will make the platform available to all Geely Group and affiliate brands, while also providing the platform to 3rd parties through ECARX. Earlier in February, the company raised over $200 million in A+ funding round.
3. Geely launched a new brand, called Zeekr, targeting the premium EV market. The first model will be open for orders soon and delivery will start in Q4 this year. Zeekr is in fact a new joint venture by Geely Automobile Holdings and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group with 51% and 49% stake respectively.
4. Founded in 2016, Newlink provides an online service platform mainly to match drivers in China with the best gas stations and charging piles through apps like “Tuanyou” and “Kuaidian”. It closed a $200 million financing led by Bain Capital on March 22. With another $100 million announced earlier this year, Newlink has raised $300 million so far in 2021.
5. Bolink Club, founded in 2017, is a middleware solution provider for self-service payment in parking lots. It has received a series A funding round from Yeahka (HK: 09923).
6. Momenta has closed a series C of $500 million led by SAIC Motor, Toyota, Bosch, Temasek, and Yunfeng Capital. Founded in 2016, Momenta develops software solutions for autonomous driving. It has been relatively low-key in media as opposed to its rivals Pony.ai and WeRide but certainly made headlines with the biggest single investment by far in 2021.
7. eMapgo is a digital map vendor in China, one of the 20+ with Grade A Surveying and Mapping Certificate. Reference read: China HD Map Evolvement — Ultimate Data Ownership. It has been acquired by the location-based service provider Luokuang (NASDAQ: LKCO).
8. On March 15, Evergrande Auto announced the plan to form a joint venture with Tencent-held Tinnove to develop intelligent operating system for smart vehicles. Evergrande will contribute 60% capital in the new venture and Tinnove will make up the reminder. This isn’t the first collaboration between the two as Tencent has joined the board through Evergrande’s share sale in September 2020.
9. ChipON is in the R&D of 8-bit MCU and 32-bit MCU & DSP based on the KungFu kernel architecture with intellectual property rights. On March 10, it announced a series B of RMB 300 million from a list of investors, some of which from the automotive industry chain.
10. The robobus solution provider QCraft announced the completion of A1 funding round. Bytedance was reported to be among the investors with at least $25 million in. This is Bytedance’s first investment in the AV space while it holds shares in Li Auto.
11. HOZON Auto received a RMB 5 billion credit line from CITIC Group mainly for the R&D of smart cockpit and intelligent driving. For further details on HOZON, see Tesla Inspired List in China is Longer than Nio, Li Auto and XPeng.
12. Founded in 2017, AutoCore.ai is dedicated to building middleware platform for autonomous driving. It completed a pre-A funding round led by Foxconn and Gaoling Venture.
13. Founded in 2015, Jidou Auto provides auto OEMs with infotainment software solution and platform, which generates profits from car owners through paid contents and premium services. It recently announced the completion of a new funding round.
14. SVOLT, a spin-off from the Great Wall Motors, is one of the battery makers in China. It has raised RMB 3.5 billion in series A funding to develop new battery technologies as well as to increase production capacity.
16. HYCAN is an EV brand currently with one mass production model “007” available for sale. The company used to be named GAC NIO as a joint venture of GAC Group and NIO until the brand name HYCAN was launched in 2019. It has completed a capital increase of RMB 2.405 billion from existing shareholders.
17. & 30. Horizon Robotics, a Chinese AI chip designer for automated and autonomous vehicles, proposed series C fundraising late last year. It closed a C1 round of $150 million on December 22 of last year, a C2 round of $400 million on January 7, and a C3 round of $350 million on February 9. A clutch of industry players have participated, just to name a few: BYD, the Great Wall Motors, Changjiang Automobile Electronic, Sunny Optical Technology, etc.
18. On February 9, WM Motor announced that it has been granted a total of RMB 11.5 billion credits from multiple banks and financial institutions. The fund will be used for further R&D, manufacturing and sales operation.
19. On February 8, Pony.ai raised another $100 million in its series C round, in additional to the $267 million from November 2020.
20. Leapmotor has secured RMB 4.3 billion in a series B funding round for product R&D, sales channel expansion and brand promotion. Hefei government, NIO’s strong supporter, participated in the round.
21. DiDi raised $500 million in May 2020 for its autonomous driving unit and $300 million in January. On March 29, it was reported to be seeking another $500 million.
22. According to public records, DiDi has become a shareholder in the new generation auto OEM Aiways with 0.37% shares. DiDi has fostered partnerships with multiple OEMs to produce ride-hailing vehicles, like BYD, Li Auto. However, it seems like DiDi also pursues further control in auto companies.
23. UISEE’s solution, as autonomous trailer to deliver luggage, has been widely adopted in the Hong Kong airport. It has secured RMB 1 billion in B+ funding round.
24. The smart mining player Tage Idriver has recently completed B+ funding round. For details on smart mining market, check out Funding-Driven Autonomous Driving — 2020 China Market Review.
25. WeRide has completed B2 and B3 rounds of $310 million in total. Besides its plan to commercialize robobus that was announced last year, the company was reported to have acquired MoonX from the short-haul trucking sector.
26. On January 13, Foxconn and Geely Holding Group have agreed to form a joint venture to provide contract manufacturing and consulting services for automakers and MaaS companies. Foxconn is best known as Apple’s main assembly supplier and has made several moves in the auto sector during Q1.
27. In January, the LiDAR maker Innovusion was reported to have received strategic investment from Joyson Electronics (SHA: 600699). In February, it was reported to be getting another $60 million from a list of financial investors. Founded in 2016, Innovusion has been getting attentions as NIO tapped it for the LiDARs on model ET7.
28. On January 11, Baidu announced the plan to set up a standalone company with Geely to make electric vehicles. Read Chinese “BATH” Weight in Auto for a full picture of Baidu’s auto ambitions.
29. Westwell was reported to have completed C3 funding round in 2020. As a full stack solution provider in smart port, the company has signed with over 70 partners across China, Southeast Asia, Northern Europe and Middle East.
