China Digest: Leadrive Technology bags Series C funding; AIoT firm Evomotion snaps $20mLegend Capital re-upped in Leadrive’s latest funding round

EV powertrain control systems startup Leadrive Technology has finished its Series C funding round while AIoT firm Evomotion has snapped $20 million in a Series B round. 

Leadrive snaps Series C funding  

Leadrive Technology has completed its Series C funding round, the company announced without disclosing the funding amount. 

Existing shareholder Legend Capital, an investment arm of Legend Holdings that led Leaddrive’s 150-million-yuan ($22 million) Series B in August 2020, re-upped in this round. The firm will use the proceeds for the construction of its silicon carbide power module packaging.

“Currently, the company is in a critical stage of rapidly developing large-scale delivery. This round of financing will mainly be used for the construction and implementation of the company’s power module packaging production line and the replenishment of working capital for multiple mass production projects,” Leadrive CEO Jie Shen said in the release. 

Founded by Shen in 2017, the Shanghai-headquartered firm researches, develops and produces silicon carbide power modules and dual-motor controllers for electric vehicles. The firm has a manufacturing base in Liuzhou besides a business development and R&D centre in Germany. 

AIoT firm Evomotion snaps $20m

Evomotion, a Chinese provider of artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) chips and services, has notched $20 million in a Series B funding round, according to the company announcement.The fresh capital will be used to accelerate its product development and market expansion, per the release. 

Founded in 2015 in Shenzhen, the firm designs and produces edge-AI chips that claim to be “high-performance, low-cost and low-power-dissipation”. Unlike cloud AI, where the data has to be uploaded to the cloud to be processed, edge AI allows data to be processed by the edge-AI chips at the network’s edge without the need of connecting to the cloud. 

It also offers cloud computing services that aim to help businesses to automate their AI workflows. Currently, the firms count some notable names such as electrical Chinese appliance manufacturer Midea Group and consumer electronics and home appliances firm Haier Group, as their customers. 

Previously, the firm was backed by some of the country’s institutional investors and listed firms such as Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC), which backs early-stage startups in China and the US, and Shenzhen-listed mobile operating system company Thundersoft. 

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