Phylion, a maker of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), is planning to raise up to 1.5 billion yuan ($236 million) in a new round of financing, according to a statement on Tuesday.
State-backed Shenzhen Capital Group, the lead investor of the round, has already seeded 950 million yuan ($149 million), the statement added.
Upon completion of the deal, Phylion will accelerate innovations in technology, pipelines, and business.
Phylion, which was set up in 2003 by the Physics Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and technology major Lenovo Group, has been engaged in the R&D and manufacturing of power lithium batteries.
While headquartered in East China’s Suzhou city, Phylion has established subsidiaries and production facilities in Chuzhou. Meanwhile, the company runs overseas subsidiaries in the Netherlands and India, with plans for production bases in Eastern Europe and India.
Phylion claims its production capacity will touch 10.2 GWh by the end of this year. Its products are used in electric bicycles, electric cars, electric tricycles, low-speed four-wheelers, and for energy storage, according to its official website.
As of October last year, Phylion has produced 21 million sets of lithium-ion batteries to light electric vehicle (LEV) segment across 22 countries and regions like Germany and France. In addition, Phylion has also served for over 170,000 EVs.
In 2019, Phylion had completed a pre-IPO round funding raising a total of 1.2 billion yuan ($189 million) from a portfolio of investors including China North Industries Group Corporation, Industrial Bank, SAIF Partners, and Yingke PE. “This round of financing is an important process for Phylion to enter the capital market,” the company had said at the time.
Besides, Phylion also had the backing of CCB International, Qingdao City Construction Investment, Yuekai Securities’ investment arm Yuekai Capital, Puhua Capital, and Fortuna Capital, among others.