WM Motor says it has raised $152 million in Series D2 funding
The financing was led by real estate developer Agile Property, bringing its total Series D funding to $457 million.
Chinese electric vehicle startup WM Motor announced today that it has secured $152 million in a Series D2 funding round led by local real estate developer Agile Property.
WM Motor launched its Series D2 funding round after announcing over $300 million in Series D1 funding in early October. To date, it has raised a total of $457 million in Series D funding, according to the company.
The company expects additional well-known investors to join its Series D2 funding in the near future, with total Series D funding expected to exceed $500 million.
Agile is a Hong Kong-listed company whose operations are focused on Guangdong province in southern China.
In addition to the equity financing, WM Motor and Agile have signed a strategic cooperation agreement that will provide for in-depth cooperation in branding, sales and service network, charging facility layout, auto finance, supply chain finance and after-sales service.
The partnership will bring more than 3,000 offline touchpoints to WM Motor, the company said.
Agile's financial backing, extensive reach and strong offline sales system could quickly boost WM Motor's presence in the smart pure electric vehicle market, according to WM Motor founder and CEO Shen Hui.
With the recent financing, WM Motor will continue to invest in developing cutting-edge smart electric vehicle technology and broadening and deepening its sales and service channels, according to the company's CFO Bi Shiyu.
WM Motor announced on October 4 that it expects to raise a total of $500 million in new financing in Series D1 and D2.
The D1 round of more than $300 million was led by Hong Kong-based PCCW and Shun Tak Holdings, with participation from GF Xinde Investment Management's investment arm, according to the company.
After the completion of the D1 round, WM Motor will lean toward an overseas listing, Zhang Ran, a partner of the company, said in an interview with The Beijing News on October 15.
However, Zhang also said that the timeline and progress details of WM Motor's IPO are not easy to disclose right now, but it is being pushed forward in an orderly manner.
WM Motor had previously planned to list on China's Nasdaq-style sci-tech innovation board, also known as the STAR market, and was ready to do so in January. But there has been no progress since then.
In mid-April, Chinese media reported that WM Motor's listing process on the STAR market had been put on hold, possibly due to heightened requirements for technology attributes of candidates by the review board.
WM Motor is eyeing a possible Hong Kong IPO that could raise about $1 billion, which would happen as soon as next year, Bloomberg said in a November 12 report.
WM Motor said to eye HK IPO that could raise about $1 billion