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Xpeng, an electric vehicle startup run by former Alibaba executive He Xiaopeng, said Monday it has raised around $500 million in a Series C+ round to further develop models tailored to China’s tech-savvy middle-class consumers.<\/p>\n
The announcement followed its Series C round of $400 million<\/a> closed last November. A source told TechCrunch that the company’s valuation at the time had exceeded the 25 billion yuan ($3.57 billion) round raised in August 2018.<\/p>\n The new proceeds bring the five-year-old Chinese startup’s to-date fundings announced to $1.7 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Investors in the latest round include Hong Kong-based private equity firm Aspex Management<\/a>; the storied American tech hedge fund Coatue Management;<\/a> China’s top private equity fund Hillhouse Capital; and Sequoia Capital China. The other existing big-name backers are Foxconn, Xiaomi, GGV Capital, Morningside Venture Capital, IDG Capital, and Primavera Capital.<\/p>\n Despite the sizable round, Xpeng is headed for a slew of challenges. Electric vehicle sales in China have shrunk<\/a> in the wake of reduced government subsidies set in motion last year, and the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to further dampen demand<\/a> as the economy weakens.<\/p>\n Xpeng’s Chinese rival Byton, which counts heavyweights backers<\/a> like Tencent, FAW Group, and Foxconn, is already showing signs of strain as it furloughed about half<\/a> of its 450 North America-based staff citing coronavirus impact. In June, the company put the brakes on production<\/a> for internal reorganization.<\/p>\n Xpeng’s other competitors seem to have proven more resilient. In April, Nasdaq-listed Nio secured a $1 billion investment<\/a> for its Chinese entity, while Li Auto ventured to file for a U.S. public listing<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n Xpeng claims it has so far been able to withstand coronavirus challenges. In May, the company obtained a production license<\/a> for its fully-owned car plant in a city near its Guangzhou headquarters, signaling its reduced dependence on manufacturing partner Haima Automobile.<\/p>\n Tags:<\/b> Rita Liao<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/div>\nSee Campaign: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/organization\/aspex-management<\/a>
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Rita Liao<\/p>\n
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Xpeng, an electric vehicle startup run by former Alibaba executive He Xiaopeng, said Monday it has raised around $500 million in a Series C+ round to further develop models tailored to China’s tech-savvy middle-class consumers. The announcement followed its Series C round of $400 million closed last November. A source told TechCrunch that the company’s valuation at … Continue reading China’s EV startup Xpeng pulls in $500 million Series C+<\/span><\/a> Continue Reading