EV startup Byton aims to raise $500 mln to fund growth: sources

Fullshare Holdings

08/01/2019 06:02

By Kane Wu and Julie  Zhu
    HONG KONG, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Chinese-funded electric vehicle
manufacturer Byton is seeking to raise at least $500 million to
finance growth, valuing the nearly three-year-old company at
more than $4 billion, two people familiar with the matter told
Reuters.
    The latest round of fundraising comes as China's government
promotes new energy vehicles (NEVs), a category comprising
battery-powered and plug-in battery-petrol hybrid cars, to help
reduce air pollution and support high technology development.
    Byton is keen to primarily attract foreign investors in its
latest fundraising and the proceeds will be mainly used to
finance the mass production of its first premium electric SUV
vehicle - Byton M-Byte and research and development, one of the
sources said on condition of anonymity as discussions are still
private.
    Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc  TSLA.O  broke
ground on Monday for its Shanghai plant where it plans to begin
producing its Model 3 EV by year-end, a first step in localising
production in the world's largest auto market.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z71IF
    The so-called Gigafactory is the country's first wholly
foreign-owned car plant, a reflection of China's broader shift
to open up its car market, even amid a trade war with
Washington, which has seen a rise in tariffs on cars imported
from the United States.
    Byton's chief executive and co-founder Carsten Breitfeld
told Germany's Automobilwoche in October last year that the firm
may launch an initial public offering to fund expansion and
would seek another round of fundraising from private investors
prior to the IPO.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1X70HY
    Already backed by China's retail giant Suning  002024.SZ 
and Hong Kong-based property developer and healthcare services
provider Fullshare Holdings  0607.HK , Byton earlier last year
lured new investors including state-owned carmaker FAW Group
 SASACJ.UL  and battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology
Co  300750.SZ  in its $500 million Series B round of funding.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TD28P
    The company is working on its Series C round of fundraising,
a Byton spokeswoman said, but declined to provide further
details. 
    The company which runs offices in China, the Unites States
and Germany, is one of several largely Chinese-funded EV
startups betting on the benefits of local production to compete
with Tesla and other auto giants. Its local rivals include
Nasdaq-listed NIO Inc  NIO.N  and Xpeng Motors, backed by
Alibaba Group  BABA.N .
    While China's wider car market has cooled, its NEV market is
growing rapidly. NEV sales rose 37.6 percent in November
compared with the same month last year, and surged 68 percent to
1.03 million vehicles in January-November, the country's top
auto industry association said this month.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1YG2B4
    NIO Inc, which raised $1 billion in one of the biggest U.S.
IPOs last year by a Chinese firm, said last month it had
delivered 9,726 of its ES8 electric sport-utility vehicles
(SUVs) as of Dec. 15, almost reaching its own target of 10,000
vehicles by 2018-end.
    Former BMW  BMWG.DE  and Nissan Motor  7201.T  executives
co-founded Chinese electric-car venture Future Mobility Corp
(FMC), which in September 2017 named its brand "Byton". FMC, the
parent company, plans to launch the vehicles in the United
States and Europe soon after starting sales at home in 2019.
    FMC last June placed an order to German supplier Duerr for a
paint shop capable of handling 150,000 cars per year, in China's
eastern city of Nanjing, one of Byton's headquarters.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1TF3SA
    Byton also opened a North American headquarters in Silicon
Valley in December 2017. It announced it was working with
Aurora, U.S. autonomous driving company co-founded by Chris
Urumson, the former head of Google's self-driving cars
programme.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1PR8ZF

 (Additional reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in BEIJING; Editing
by Jacqueline Wong)
 ((julie.zhu1@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2843 6519; Reuters
Messaging: julie.zhu1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))