A wholly-owned subsidiary of Geely-backed Farizon New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group has secured $100 million in its initial funding round at a pre-money valuation of $1 billion to invest in the development of methanol-to-hydrogen new energy vehicles (NEVs).
Chunqing Technology, which specialises in the R&D and production of methanol-hydrogen NEVs, said in a Monday post on its official WeChat account that several strategic investors and institutional investment companies participated in its debut funding round. However, it did not disclose the identities of the investors.
The subsidiary of Hangzhou-based Farizon, a maker of hybrid and pure electric commercial vehicles, was created to integrate Farizon’s fully-commercialised methanol-hydrogen resources and facilities into one green platform, connecting methanol-to-hydrogen commercial vehicles, refuelling service stations, freight, logistics finance, and related core technologies.
Chunqing offers holistic solutions for the operations, repair, and maintenance of methanol-to-hydrogen commercial vehicles, which adopt methanol as a carrier of hydrogen to enable its ease of storage and transport and without the need for intensive capital investments in new infrastructure.
The parent firm produces and markets various types of methanol-to-hydrogen commercial vehicles, such as light- and heavy-duty trucks, vans, and buses, covering use cases including the short- to long-distance transportation of concrete and hazardous goods like oils, gas, and chemical products.
The move by Farizon, owned by Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings, to rope in external investors for its Chunqing unit came just over six months after Farizon closed its Series A round at $600 million.
The Series A round, led by Boyu Capital and Yuexiu Industrial Fund, enabled Farizon to invest further in technology and product development, as well as its expansion outside of China. Founded in 2016, it has delivered commercial vehicles to overseas markets across Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and the Middle East.
In October 2022, Farizon raised over $300 million in a Series Pre-A round led by GLP’s private equity arm Hidden Hill Capital.