GLy Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based investment manager in the mobility sector, announced on Wednesday the final closing of its maiden private equity (PE) fund — the New Mobility Fund, which raised $163 million in capital commitments.
The New Mobility Fund, which counts Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and South Korea’s SK Inc as anchor investors, secured capital commitments from a pool of institutional investors including financial institutions, family offices, industrial conglomerates, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). Most of its capital came from limited partners (LPs) across Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, the US, Europe, and Japan.
The final closing came over a year after GLy launched the maiden fund in early 2021 with an initial target to collect $300 million, GLy’s founder and co-CEO Harry Krkalo told DealStreetAsia in an interview in April that year.
Krkalo had said in the interview that the New Mobility Fund aimed to make about 12-15 investments, and its cheque size per deal would be somewhere in the vicinity of $10-30 million.
It planned to deploy roughly a quarter of its corpus to China. Krkalo said that he would pay special attention to Chinese businesses related to smart connected vehicles and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructures.
Established in 2017, GLy is majority-owned by Geely, which holds stakes in Volvo Cars and Germany’s Daimler. While Geely is expected to share with the affiliate its industry know-how, GLy could also leverage the expertise of SK, whose affiliates include memory chip manufacturing giant SK Hynix and EV battery maker SK Innovation.
Its maiden fund has invested in companies including the now-listed Swedish EV brand Polestar, China-based automotive computing platform developer ECARX, US battery-integrated EV charging solution provider Freewire, and Israeli 4D imaging radar-on-chip solution provider Vayyar.
It is also a backer of German urban air mobility solution provider Volocopter, as well as online automotive marketplace Carwow and the UK-based battery materials manufacturer Nexeon in the UK.
“With our solid shareholder support, we combine deep industry know-how and unique ecosystem insight to identify the investment opportunities that underpin profitability and the best-in-class investable assets,” GLy’s co-CEO Anny Lin said in a statement. “All of the fund’s portfolio companies are pioneers in electrification and mobility infrastructure simultaneously aiding and benefiting from the decarbonisation of transportation.”
The fund invests in “disruptive companies which help drive a cleaner, safer, and more connected mobility future” with a focus on smart vehicles, electrification, smart cities, and materials, according to the statement.