Svolt Energy Technology, a China-based battery technology developer spun out of carmaker Great Wall Motor, has closed a RMB6bn ($943m) series B-plus round featuring multiple corporates, showing robust growth in the country’s electronic vehicle (EV) sector.
Laser equipment maker Han’s Laser Technology and car light producer Changzhou Xingyu Automotive Lighting Systems took part in the round, which included China Mobile Capital, PICC Capital and Taikang Asset Management, respective vehicles for telecommunications group China Mobile and insurance providers PICC Group and Taikang Life Insurance.
Financial services provider Industrial Bank (China) also invested, as did CDH Investments, PreIPO Capital and Sichuan Energy Investment.
Svolt is developing energy storage and related products including battery materials, cells, modules, packs and battery management systems. It was initially set up by Great Wall Motor in 2012 before being spun off four years later.
The company will use the cash to ramp up research and development (R&D) efforts which would involve building additional production sites and R&D hubs.
Svolt had already disclosed a $1.58bn series B round in August this year that featured more than a dozen investors including consumer electronics manufacturer Xiaomi and heavy machinery manufacturer Sany.
Corporate venturers’ wider focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations embodied by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is evident as they reflected on the important trends for 2021 in the annual survey conducted by Global Corporate Venturing.
As Jim Adler, founding managing director of Toyota Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Japan-based carmaker Toyota, pointed out in GCV’s fourth-quarter mobility sector report: “Pre-2010, the mobility industry had a very stable set of suppliers, was very predictable and not particularly prone to disruption.
“This has radically changed in the past decade. The sector has fostered a range of innovative technologies, becoming an incredibly vibrant space rich in promising investment opportunities.”
Currently, China produces the highest levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that directly contributes to the ongoing climate change. Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to reduce such emissions and make China carbon neutral by 2060.
China-headquartered EV players have ramped up their venture capital activities in recent years, with the likes of Nio Capital – a vehicle for Nio – and BYD investing in strategic deals. Meanwhile, EV maker WM Motor and YKC Clean Energy Technologies, a provider of EV charging services, are among the China-based companies that raised corporate funding earlier this month.
Outside China, Germany-headquartered EV charging network Ionity has received corporate backing in recent months, as have India-based groups such as electric scooter developer Simple Energy and Exponent Energy, which provides fast EV charging technology.
Regarding the strong EV emphasis in 2021, Alex Smout, a principal at InMotion Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, told GCV: “From an automotive and mobility perspective, the continued maturation of the EV market coupled with US President Joe Biden administration has meant customer EV service propositions saw a huge step in the ‘why now’.
“The covid impact meant a renewed focus on supply chain resiliency software and tools for enterprises, and the impact on travel patterns gave e-bikes their time to shine.”
Likewise, Crispin Leick, managing director for EnBW New Ventures, the CVC unit of renewable energy producer EnBW, in an interview with GCV this week identified electrification and mobility to be of strategic interest because of the corporate’s position as one of Germany’s largest operators of EV charging stations.
Regarding the latest funding, Svolt chairman and CEO Yang Hongxin said: “Our company is fortunate to have a strategic window of opportunity for great development, which is generated by the difference in the choice of global technology routes and by the imbalance in the industry supply chain – a once-in-a-century event.
“We will increase our R&D efforts, establish a global, technological and innovative brand image, implement the 600GWh global production capacity plan for 2025, help achieve the double carbon development goal and put green energy within reach.” (Translated from Chinese by GCV)
– Image courtesy of Svolt Energy Technology Co, Ltd.
