WM raises RMB 12 billion funding, led by Baidu Capital

Shanghai (Gasgoo)-WM Motor, one of China's electric car startups, announced on Dec. 5 that it had finished a new round of financing. Led by Baidu Capital, the financing was also funded by Baidu Inc and other investors, including SIG Asia Investment (SAI) and Ameba Capital. Lighthouse Capital Group was the exclusive financial consultant for this financing.

Up to now, the total investment of WM Moroe reached over RMB 12 billion (around $1.8 billion). Focusing on popularizing the intelligent electric vehicles, WM Motor continues to forge the development strategy of mobility ecology. Freeman Shen, founder, chairman & CEO of WM Motor stated that WM Motor values more about strategic coordination than sole capital investment. In the future, WM Motor will conduct a comprehensive cooperation with Baidu in intelligence, further accelerating the deployment on AI and autonomous driving and providing intelligent mobility experience for customers.

Meanwhile, WM Motor also announced that it will unveil its first mass-produced model at its brand press conference, which will be held on Dec. 11. The first mass-produced model is positioned as an intelligent pure electric SUV with starting price around RMB 200,000 ($30,240). The model boasts a maximum range of 600km and abundant intelligent interconnected functions. It is slated to roll off the production line of WM Motor's EV Smart Industrial Park in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province in 2018.

During this year, WM Motor has accelerated its deployment on electrification, automation, intelligence and sharing. In August, Jeff Xiong, former CTO of Tencent joined in WM Motor and served as its vice president. In September, WM Motor announced its cooperation with 360 in R&D of automobile information security, and also established partnership with HelloBike, a bike-sharing brand, to provide three-dimensional urban mobility solutions. In October, WM Motor signed a MoU with Mobileye, the world's leading autonomous driving solutions provider, to take deep cooperation in autonomous driving area. In December, WM Motor teamed up with NetEase AI to cooperate in such areas as Internet, big data and infotainment, etc. This financing partnered with Baidu would make WM Motor's strategy and competitive advantages of AI, hardware, software and service more clear.