Green energy technology startup Immotor Technology has closed $28 million in a Series C round. Separately, automaker Chongqing Sokon Industry Group has raised billions of Chinese yuan to shift its business focus to new energy vehicles.
Green energy tech startup Immotor closes $28m round
Chinese green energy technology startup Immotor Technology has raised $28 million in a Series C round of financing with the support of new investors to help it further expand in the Southeast Asian market.
The Series C round was led by Utrust Fund, a government-backed investment firm that manages over 41 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) in southern China’s Guangdong Province. The deal attracted the participation of two new investors, namely Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas firm PTT Public Company Limited and PIVL, a group member of PETRONAS, which is wholly owned by the government of Malaysia.
“With the help of two new investors, PTT and PETRONAS, Immotor is actively exploring the Southeast Asian market,” said Immotor founder Daniel Huang in a press release. He said Immotor had received positive market feedback after working with PTT to offer its e-scooter battery services in Thailand since mid-2021. The startup plans to extend this partnership with a new round of product deliveries this year.
“This series of products can help us lay a solid foundation in developing the market of e-scooters battery services globally,” said Huang. “We want to use our technology, products and channel advantages to do more things in the field of light new energy, from clean energy, photovoltaics, energy storage, battery charging and swapping, portable power station [to] other sub-sectors.”
Immotor is expected to introduce its consumer energy product series, which will include portable power stations and home energy storage solutions, in the third quarter of 2022.
Chinese blockchain product developer Hyperchain Technology and existing investors, including China’s Uone Capital and PKSHA SPARX Algorithm Fund, a venture capital (VC) fund co-launched by Japan’s PKSHA Technology and Asia-based asset manager SPARX Group, all participated in the new round.
Besides its planned expansion in Southeast Asia, Immotor will also invest the new funding in the construction of city energy networks, the R&D of technology and new products, as well as its expansion in the Chinese market.
Automaker Sokon rakes in $1.1b in stock sale
Chinese automaker Chongqing Sokon Industry Group, best known for its technology partnership with the country’s telecom equipment giant Huawei Technologies, has raised billions of Chinese yuan to fund its business transformation into new energy vehicles (NEVs).
The Chongqing-based company raised 7.13 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) by selling almost 137.2 million shares at a price of 51.98 yuan ($7.7) each through a private placement, it disclosed in a filing with the Shanghai stock exchange on Saturday.
The shares on offer, which amounted to a 10% stake in Sokon, attracted subscriptions from 17 investors, including Switzerland’s wealth manager and banking group UBS Group AG, according to the filing.
The completion of the deal came about six months after Sokon first disclosed its plan of raising capital to fund its pivot to EVs.
“With one of the world’s largest NEV ecosystems, China is a leading player in terms of annual EV sales, registering stable sales growth every year,” said Sokon in a separate stock exchange filing in January.
“The competition in China’s NEV market is increasingly fiercer with both emerging brands and traditional automakers joining the race over the recent years… comparing with top-tier market players, the company has yet to build a more diversified portfolio of NEV car models in order to catch up with industry rivals. The investment will help us upgrade existing offerings and develop new products to serve more consumers in an effort to further boost our market share,” it said.
Sokon also planned to increase investment in “forward-looking technologies” to promote its forays into smart cockpits, intelligent connected vehicles, autonomous driving and beyond.
As the biggest investor in the deal, Guangzhou-based fund management firm GF Fund Management paid 1.474 billion yuan ($218.6 million) for close to 28.4 million shares in Sokon. Following closely was Chinese investment bank CITIC Securities, which acquired nearly 22.3 million shares for 1.158 billion yuan ($171.8 million).
Other participating investors include Nuode Asset Management, CCB Principal Asset Management, China Asset Management, China Galaxy Securities and GF Securities, as well as private equity firms such as Shenzhen Lin Yuan lnvestment management and Longrising Asset Management — just to name a few.