Leapmotor banks 4.3 billion yuan in series B funding

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Leapmotor announced on Jan. 27 it raised a total of 4.3 billion yuan ($663.6 million) in its series B financing, exceeding the target by over 1 billion yuan ($154.326 million).

Investors involved in the B round include Hefei municipal government, SDIC Chuangyi, ZJU Jiuzhi Investment Management Co.,Ltd. and Yonghua Capital.

Leapmotor C11; photo credit: Leapmotor

A local media outlet revealed last week that Hefei municipal government intended to invest around 2 billion yuan ($308.652 million) in the Hangzhou-headquartered Chinese EV startup, quoting a person close to the startup's senior management.

Hefei's investment in Leapmotor would be carried out in two installments with 200 million yuan ($30.865 million) having been plowed to the EV maker’s Series B financing round, according to the person briefed on the matter. The other 1.8 billion yuan ($277.786 million) would be pumped into the Pre-IPO funding round Leapmotor has launched at a valuation of 22 billion yuan ($3.395, billion).

Leapmotor entered into a strategic partnership with Hefei earlier this month for an all-round in-depth collaboration on NEV business. The agreement made the company the second Chinese EV startup supported by the capital of Anhui province following NIO.

Leapmotor has had two production models for mass delivery, namely the S01 and the T03. For the year of 2020, the insurance registrations of the two models totaled 4,085 units, including 849 S01s and 3,236 T03s, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

The company cracked the top 5 Chinese EV startups in Nov. with 1,769 new vehicles registered, 227 units more than that of HOZON Auto.

The startup announced the presale of the C11, its third production model, began on Jan. 1, 2021, with guiding prices ranging from 159,800 yuan ($24,660) to 199,800 yuan ($30,835) after subsidies.