Xiaopeng Motors, a China-based smart electric vehicle developer backed by corporates Alibaba, Foxconn, Fosun and UCar, raised RMB4bn ($585m) in a series B-plus round today.
The round was co-led by investment firm Primavera Capital Group, venture capital firm Morningside Venture Capital and Xiaopeng Motors co-founder and chairman He Xiaopeng. It valued Xiaopeng at $3.7bn.
Hillhouse Capital, Eastern Bell Venture Capital and K11 Investment also took part but e-commerce group Alibaba, which was reportedly in discussions about contributing to the round last month, was not identified as an investor.
Founded in 2014 and also known as Xpeng, Xiaopeng is developing smart electric cars that will include autonomous driving features.
The company introduced its first production vehicle, electric sports car G3 (pictured), in January and plans to bring the car to market by the end of this year.
Xiaopeng has also revealed plans to install 150 charging stations across China and open more than 10 dealerships. It expects to unveil a second production car in 2019.
Alibaba and contract manufacturer Foxconn co-led Xiaopeng’s $348m series B round with venture capital group IDG Capital in January this year.
The round was also backed by Morningside, Yunfeng Capital, China International Capital Corporation, GGV Capital, Matrix Partners and private investor Yuri Milner.
Xiaopeng had previously announced the completion of series A0, series A1 and series A2 rounds in December 2017, without disclosing any financial details.
Alibaba and He Xiaopeng contributed to the series A0 round, while GGV, Morningside, IDG, Matrix, Shunwei Capital and Everbright Zhongying Capital backed the series A1 round.
Kinzon Capital, an investment arm of conglomerate Fosun, took part in the series A2 round alongside Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The company raised $324m in a June 2017 round led by on-demand chauffeured travel service UCar, after securing $40m in series A funding from unnamed investors in 2016 and an undisclosed sum in an angel round backed by assorted individual investors.
– Image courtesy of Xiaopeng Motors.