Leapmotor introduces Guosen Securities as new shareholder

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co.,Ltd. (Leapmotor) has introduced a new shareholder, Guosen Securities, a Chinese state-owned financial services company headquartered in Shenzhen, according to the corporate data platform Qichacha.

Founded in Dec. 2015, Leapmotor involves a registered capital of around 789 million yuan ($122.074 million). The startup has a line of businesses including the development, design, production and sale of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and auto parts.

Leapmotor T03; photo credit: Leapmotor

Leapmotor announced on Jan. 27 it raised a total of 4.3 billion yuan ($665.295 million) in its series B financing, exceeding the target by over 1 billion yuan ($154.72 million).

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

A local media outlet revealed in late Jan. that Hefei municipal government intended to invest around 2 billion yuan ($309.439 million) in the Hangzhou-headquartered 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 ($30.944 million) having been plowed to the EV maker's Series B round, according to the person briefed on the matter. The other 1.8 billion yuan ($278.495 million) would be pumped into the Pre-IPO funding round Leapmotor had launched at a valuation of 22 billion yuan ($3.404 billion).

On Jan. 8, Leapmotor and Hefei municipal government signed a strategic cooperation agreement under which the EV maker would build in the city its second assembly plant with an annual capacity of 200,000 NEVs.

Leapmotor said its cumulative auto sales amounted to 10,841 units as of Feb. 28, 2021, including 8,362 T03s and 2,479 S01s. The sales for the first two months of 2021 totaled 2,142 units.