Caocao Zhuanche, a China-based electric ride hailing service developed by automotive manufacturer Geely, closed a RMB1bn ($155m) series A round today featuring unnamed investors that valued it at more than $1.55bn.
Founded in 2015, Caocao Zhuanche operates a ride hailing service that relies on a 12,000-strong fleet of electric vehicles produced and supplied by Geely.
The company is present in 17 Chinese cities and processes more than 150,000 rides per day for a customer base of roughly 10 million. It also provides related services, such as car rentals or vehicles with private tour guides or bodyguards.
The company received regulatory clearance for its ride hailing operations in February 2017, becoming the first platform in China to solely use electric vehicles. The funding will go towards an expansion into additional cities including Shenzhen and Chongqing.
In the longer term the company hopes to integrate additional technologies into is vehicles, including an assisted driving system developed by carmaker Volvo, a Geely subsidiary, and automated driving and flying cars based on technology by another Geely subsidiary, Terrafugia.
Caocao was previously reported to have raised $225m in an August 2017 series A round led by Zhongrong Prosper AMC that included electrical component producer People Appliance Group China, but said today this round was its first.
Liu Jinliang, chairman of Caocao, said “The completion of the series A round of funding represents the market’s confidence in us.
“Following our business-to-consumer operating model of providing ‘new energy vehicles, innovative mobility solutions, and professionally certified drivers,’ we will take environmentally friendly mobility to the next level and provide clean mobility solutions to a broader audience.”