HONG KONG, Jan. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — XPENG Motors on Monday announced at a Hong Kong press conference the kick-off of its Series B capital funding of RMB 2.2 billion, with Alibaba Group, Foxconn and IDG Capital as three major investors. That will bring the total raised by XPENG Motors in capital market to over RMB 5 billion, marking a milestone in efficient, integrated funding for a company in the automobile sector.
This Series B capital funding brings together global giants in finance, equity capital, technology and manufacturing. Alibaba Group, one of China’s leading internet companies was a key round A+ investor and remains one of the major investors in round B. Global manufacturing giant Foxconn and leading global investment firm IDG Capital, have also invested in this Series B round. Other Co-investors in Series B include Yunfeng Capital and China International Capital Corporation Limited. Series A+ investors, such as GGV Capital, Morningside Venture Capital, and Matrix Partners, appear again on the list of investors of this new round of fundraising. Individual investors include Yuri Milner, a globally renowned investor in science and technology.
Among those speaking at the news conference were Joe Tsai , Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group; Yang Fei, IDG Capital partner; Lu Qingsong from Foxconn Group; and He Xiaopeng, Chairman of XPENG Motors.
“Alibaba is the world’s leading science and technology company, Foxconn is the world’s benchmark company for high-tech manufacturing, and IDG Capital is the world’s top investment entity. It is, thus, an important milestone for XPENG Motors that Alibaba, Foxconn, and IDG capital are the joint lead investors in this round of fundraising,” said He Xiaopeng, Chairman of XPENG Motors.
“Though financing is crucial to the survival and development of Internet-based auto companies, what is decisive for such companies is product innovation ability, the ability to turn an idea into reality in an era when products are rapidly upgraded and the user-centered approach adopted by the best product managers,” He added. “XPENG Motors’ G3 is set to be launched in the market this year. We will continue to announce and carry out a variety of transboundary co-operations with our dear partners.”
Joe Tsai, Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group, said: “Smart transportation has great potential to become one of the fastest growing sectors, making huge impact on people’s daily lives,” Tsai added. “XPENG Motors combines the advantages of the internet, artificial intelligence and traditional manufacturing. Alibaba is very excited to work together with XPENG Motors to accelerate the integration and innovation across sectors, leading to more rapid development in smart transportation.”
“A strategic area of investment for us, the new energy sector is constantly causing profound changes in the global industrial structure and in our daily lives. Electric, intelligent, and Internet-connected cars are an inevitable result of the reform of the new energy sector, and an irreversible direction of development for the auto industry,” IDG Capital partner Yang Fei said.
“Among the newcomers in the auto industry, XPENG Motors has an inherent Internet-based gene for auto manufacturing, and has shown its ability to bring about practical, highly efficient innovation in the fields of intelligent Internet, automatic driving, and data mining. We believe that the Internet-connected model being forged by XPENG Motors has the potential to become the mainstream choice of the younger generation,” Yang added. “Traditional manufacturing as a whole is heading toward a new era of high tech and artificial intelligence. Just as their traditional auto counterparts, new Internet-based auto companies will also be in the vanguard of intelligent transport.”
Further praise for XPENG Motors came from Lu Songqiong, Chairman and CEO of Foxconn Interconnect Technology, who said, “With our 40 years of experience and technology ability, Foxconn will support XPENG Motors to pursue technology and quality and effectively strike a balance between the two. And we are happy to be deeply involved in the development of Internet-connected cars at such a crucial time.”
In December 2017, XPENG Motors announced the close of its Series A0, A1, and A2 rounds of A+ funding; the money raised in Series A0 came from Alibaba Group and He Xiaopeng himself; in Series A1 from GGV Capital, Morningside Venture Capital, IDG capital, Matrix Partners China, and jointly from Shunwei Capital and Guangkong Zhongying Capital; and in round A2 from Xin Ding Capital, Kinzon Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. In May 2017, XPENG Motors received an investment of RMB 2.2 billion, led by Ucar Capital, a fund established by Ucar Inc. In addition, individual investors of XPENG Motors in the Series A+ round of fundraising include Internet tycoons Yao Jinbo, founder and CEO of classified information platform 58.com; Zhang Tao, founder of the restaurant review platform Dianping.com; and Dai Kebin, founder and CEO of the job-hunting website liepin.com.
Of all the Internet-based newcomers in the auto industry, XEPNG Motors has always taken the lead in each of the key stages of development. Its new cars, ranging from the Beta model and production model (1.0) to XPENG Motors G3 (2.0), have been upgraded twice, and its strong ability to deliver and turn ideas into reality has been universally recognized by industry insiders. Among the newcomers in the auto industry, XPENG Motors was the first to have launched, in September 2016, its Beta model, accompanied by its first test drive. XPENG Motors was also the first to have been granted, in July 2017, product qualification by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the first to have achieved mass production in October 2017, when the first batch of its production cars (1.0) was successfully released in Zhengzhou, and again the first to have delivered, on December 3, 2017, a production model (1.0) with a Beijing plate number to its first owner He Xiaopeng. The XPENG Motors Intelligent Internet-connected Science and Technology Park, with an area of 3,000 mu (200 hectares) and an investment of RMB 10 billion (Zhaoqing Base), officially got underway on December 11, 2017. In January 2018, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), XPENG Motors showed to the world, for the first time, its G3 production model.
XPENG Motors G3 is an aesthetically pleasing, high-tech and high-quality, all-electric SUV. The shape of the G3 is a tribute to sportsmanship, with a LED sword-style lighting, sharp front lip, as well as one-piece diamond matrix taillight. In addition, the G3 model features a 360-degree roof camera – an industry first, a space-capsule-like driving space that is unique for a Chinese brand, a set of 25 intelligent sensors, as well as automatic drive techniques that is especially suited to Asia’s driving environment.
The G3 is set to be on sale in 2018, and that is when its detailed setup and price will be made public.
About XPENG Motors
XPENG Motors was invested jointly by a number of Internet tycoons that includes He Xiaopeng, co-founder of mobile Internet browser UC and former President of the mobile business group of Internet giant Alibaba; Li Xueling, founder of video-based social network YY; Gao Xiang, Founding Partner of Banyan Capital; and Wu Xiaoguang, a high-ranking management executive of Internet giant Tencent, in 2014 , and co-founded by Xia Heng, former chief of new energy control system R&D of Guangzhou Automobile Group Motor Co., Ltd. (GAC) and He Tao, chief of the intelligent car and automatic drive division of GAC. The company is headquartered in Guangzhou, with the design, R&D, manufacturing, and marketing departments in four locations in Beijing, Zhaoqing (in Guangdong Province), and Silicon Valley (United States). It has nearly 1,000 employees, and this number is forecast to rise to 3,000 in 2019.
In September 2016, XPENG Motors launched its Beta model, together with the first-ever test drive. Of all the newcomers in the auto industry, XPENG Motors was the first to receive product qualification, in July 2017, from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In October 2017, it became the first to have successfully assembled its first batch of production model (1.0), and on December 3, 2017, it delivered the first car (1.0) with a Beijing number plate to its owner He Xiaopeng. In December 2017, XPENG Motors and Zhaoqing Municipal Government officially laid the foundation stone for the Intelligent Science and Technology Park at the Zhaoqing New Zone, which involves an investment of about RMB 10 billion. In January 2018, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), XPENG Motors’ production model G3 was unveiled for the first time before the world.
For more information, please visit the official website of Xpeng Motors at https://www.xiaopeng.com or follow XPENGMOTORS on WeChat.
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