Former Geely executive joins Xiaomi-backed capital firm, likely to lead vehicle business

Beijing (Gasgoo)- The Beijing-based venture capital company Shunwei Capital, co-founded by Xiaomi’s founder, president, and CEO Lei Jun, recently updated its management team portfolio on its official website. The update showed that the former dean of Geely Automotive Research Institute, Hu Zhengnan, joined the company as a venture partner.

Hu Zhengnan; photo credit: Shunwei Capital

Hu Zhengnan has announced his accession to Shunwei Capital, focusing on the intelligent vehicle technology field, on his personal WeChat social platform on September 7th.   

To new players of auto industry like Xiaomi, Hu Zhengnan is a good candidate with ample experience in the field. He has participated in developing numerous vehicles for major Chinese automakers, including BYD, Geely, Great Wall Motor, and Changan Auto. During his time at Geely, Hu led the R&D of BMA architecture and SEA architecture.

Shunwei Capital was founded in 2012 by Xiaomi’s Lei Jun and Tuck Lye Koh from Singapore. The venture company has achieved synergy with Xiaomi in strategic investment for a long time, and both have made massive investment in automotive supply chain.

Early on, Xiaomi has completed investments in AIPARK (smart parking solutions provider), ZongmuTech (ADAS technology provider), Hesai Technology (LiDAR supplier), Shanghai Geometrical-PAL (intelligent vehicle supply chain company), DeepMotion (autonomous driving technology company), Ganfeng Lithium Group (battery manufacturer) and SVOLT Energy Technology (former Battery Business Unit of Great Wall Motor).

Even before Xiaomi’s official announcement of automaking, Shunwei Capital has already been plowing the field of intelligent vehicles for Xiaomi. The venture capital once invested in Benewake (LiDAR manufacturer), AECS (automotive electronics company), CassTime (auto-parts supplier), 70mai (smart car electronics supplier), CareLand (navigation system provider), and Momenta (autonomous driving solution provider).

As Lei Jun stated in the company’s auto-making announcement speech, Xiaomi projected a $10 billion investment in auto-making in the next ten years.