What’s new: Zeekr Intelligent Technology Co., an electric vehicle brand of Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. targeting young consumers, has raised $500 million in its first external funding round led by Intel Capital, which gave it a valuation of nearly $9 billion.
Other investors included battery producer CATL, video streaming company Bilibili, Cathy Fortune, and Boyu Capital, Zeekr said in a statement on Friday. The round will give the five investors a combined stake of 5.6% in Zeekr, with Geely Automobile remaining the biggest shareholder with a 48% holding.
In announcing the funding, Zeekr CEO Andy An said that the company plans to launch six new models in the next three years, with the goal of selling 650,000 vehicles a year by 2025.
An also said that Zeekr is scheduled to start delivering its first car model, the Zeekr 001, in October, which will be equipped with the EyeQ5 autonomous driving chip and vision solutions developed by Intel Corp.’s Mobileye.
The background: In March, Geely Automobile and its parent Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the owner of Volvo Cars, jointly invested 2 billion yuan ($308 million) to establish Zeekr to take on rivals including Tesla Inc., Nio Inc. and Xpeng Inc.
In 2020, Geely Automobile said that it sold a total of 1.32 million vehicles, only 68,000 of which were new-energy vehicles.
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com) and editor Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com)
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