Matrix Partners co-leads $473m round in China’s electric car maker CHJ Automotive

March 23, 2018

Chinese electric car startup CHJ Automotive has pocketed Rmb3 billion ($473 million) in its Series B funding round led by Matrix Partners China and Shougang Fund’s new energy fund portfolio, according to Chinese media reports.

CHJ Automotive, described by Western media as a Chinese rival to Tesla, said the funding round was also joined by return investors Source Code Capital, department store chain Intime Retail Group, BlueRun Ventures, Minshi Hexun Capital, and Fancheng Capital.

The company has not disclosed how it will utilize the fresh capital infusion, which brings its total fundraising to date to Rmb5.755 billion ($908 million).

The Beijing-based startup, however, revealed that it will partner with Chinese taxi booking and car hire service app Didi Chuxing to customise production of electric cars for use in the ride-sharing industry.

The two companies will also partner on intelligent networks, autonomous driving, and smart car fleet operations.

CHJ Automotive also announced that it will produce the first engineering prototype of its 7-seat luxury SUV. The project to make the vehicle began in early 2016 and is targeted at the mid- to high-end family market.

In an earlier interview with CNBC, co-founder Kevin Shen said CHJ Automotive is not just eyeing the China market. He said the company will launch its electric car in Europe too, but not as a consumer offering but as a shared transport unit.

The car maker is competing with the likes of Tesla, Faraday Future, Nio, and Swedish firm NEVS in the global electric car space. However, Shen was quoted as saying that the company is not worried about competition, considering that only a fraction of the over 25 million cars that China sells annually are electric vehicles.

Last year, a total of 1.1 million electric vehicles were sold globally, up from 740,000 in 2016 or an increase of 51 per cent, according to global investment banking group Macquarie.

Sales in China of battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids were 579,000, up 72 per cent year-on-year, while sales outside of China were a smaller 540,000, and saw a weaker gain of 34 per cent, the bank said.