ECARX, an intelligent auto solutions provider backed by Chinese automaker Geely, has raked in over $200 million in a Series A+ round of financing led by state-owned China Venture Capital Fund, the startup announced on Thursday.
In a statement, the startup said that it is gearing up for an all-around business expansion into the international market after the new financing. It seeks to build a cross-region team collaboration framework, create an internationalised industry R&D system, and forge cooperation with mainstream auto companies worldwide.
The new financing took ECARX’s valuation to over $2 billion, only four months after the startup had reached a valuation of over 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) upon the completion of its Series A round of 1.3 billion yuan. The previous deal was led by Chinese internet search giant Baidu, with participation from investment firm SIG China.
ECARX’s plan of increasing its global presence comes after the startup set up its European headquarters and product R&D centre in Gothenburg, a major city in Sweden, in December 2020, marking its official foray overseas.
In its latest efforts to expand global cooperation, it announced earlier this month an initiative to develop intelligent cockpit solutions, alongside US auto electronics supplier Visteon Corporation and chip giant Qualcomm. The three firms aim to commercialise an integrated cockpit project for both conventional and electric vehicle (EV) applications starting in 2021.
Established in 2016 by Geely founder Li Shufu and Chinese entrepreneur Shen Ziyu, ECARX is an independently operated developer of products like vehicle chipsets, intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving solutions, high-definition maps, big data, and Internet of Vehicles (IoV) cloud. In China, it operates from branch offices and R&D centres in Hangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Dalian, employing over 1,700 staff.
Its GKUI Smart Ecosystem, an IoV system that ECARX initially built for Geely mobiles, now serves over 2.4 million users globally, and has been experiencing a user growth of about one million each year.
ECARX has joined a slew of domestic companies to cash in on opportunities that have emerged as the world’s largest automotive market is becoming more intelligent and data-driven.
JOYNEXT, the smart vehicle solutions arm of Chinese auto component supplier Joyson Electronics, secured about 720 million yuan in a funding round in October 2020. In the same month, Shanghai-based smart vehicles brand ENOVATE a fundraise of over 5 billion yuan, ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO) this year.
Last September, Shanghai PATEO Electronic Equipment Manufacturing Co was in talks with 22 potential investors to raise 1 billion yuan before its listing on the STAR market, according to a company spokesman cited in a Reuters report.