Hidden Hill leads $330m round for Geely's China NEV unit
Farizon Auto, a new energy vehicle (NEV) brand under Chinese automaker Geely, has secured USD 300m in pre-Series A funding led by Hidden Hill Capital, a private equity arm of local warehouse operator turned logistics and infrastructure investment manager GLP.
This is the first external funding round for Farizon - also known as Yuancheng - which focuses on the commercial vehicle segment. The proceeds will be used for R&D and NEV ecosystem development.
Other investors include local logistics and chemicals player Transfar Group, CITIC Securities, Hunan Xiangtan Industrial Fund, Mirae Asset, and Gly Capital. Gly is a Hong Kong-based investment manager controlled by Geely. It recently closed its debut mobility-focused fund on USD 163m.
Launched in October 2016, Farizon's first products were a pure electric light commercial vehicle and a city bus. Three years later, it introduced the world’s first heavy truck powered by M100 methanol fuel. Methanol is said to burn more efficiently and be more environmentally friendly than conventional gas and diesel.
Farizon is targeting carbon neutrality at the operational level by 2025 and full lifecycle carbon neutrality by 2030.
In September, Geely ranked fourth in China's passenger NEV segment, trailing BYD, Tesla, and SAIC-GM-Wuling. However, Farizon has been the market leader in commercial NEVs for the last five months.
The commitment to Farizon extends a rich vein of capital-raising activity for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers in China. More than USD 4.5bn has been deployed in this area in 2022 to date, surpassing the 12-month high of USD 3.4bn set in 2020.
The Farizon round differs from most other recent deals in that it appears to be US dollar-denominated. EV has largely become the preserve of renminbi pools of capital and several large transactions are essentially helping traditional original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) - independent and state-owned - catch up with EV specialists.
Last week, GAC Aion, an EV brand under state-owned automaker GAC Group raised CNY 18.3bn (USD 2.5bn) in Series A funding at a valuation of CNY 103.2bn. China Structural Reform Fund, Goldstone Investment, Shenzhen Capital Group, Yingke PE, and assorted government guidance funds were among the investors.
Other bumper renminbi rounds this year have been raised by Chongqing Changan New Energy Automobile Technology – a unit of Changan Auto – as well as Hozon Auto, Jidu Auto, and IM Motors.
Geely is no stranger to private equity, having brought external investors into at least two other business units. Last year, EV unit Zeekr raised USD 500m in pre-Series A funding and ride-hailing business Caocao Chuxing closed a CNY 3.8bn Series B.
China Renaissance served as financial advisor for the Farizon pre-Series A.
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