China battery component supplier secures $296m pre-IPO round
Kuntian New Energy, a China-based developer of artificial graphite used in lithium-ion batteries, has raised a pre-IPO funding round of CNY2 bn (USD 296m) from a string of financial and strategic investors.
Participants include China Broadband Capital Partners, Hana Bank, Xiamen C&D, an investment arm of shipping logistics company SITC, SK China, Sinopec, Fosun Capital, and Sany Group.
Kuntian said the round comprised separate tranches for financial and strategic investors. The company announced last October that it had raised CNY 1bn from SK China, Sinopec, Fosun, and Sany. A source close to the situation said that the remaining investors - all financial players - put in another CNY 1bn.
According to AVCJ Research, Kuntian closed a Series B of CNY 334m led by Fengchao Capital, also in 2022.
Founded in 200 as a graphite processing enterprise, the company has become China's largest local manufacturer of graphite for lithium-ion anode materials. It claims to offer an end-to-end solution, encompassing raw material procurement through packaging.
Artificial graphite is a key component used in battery anodes. Demand is rising on the back of China’s fast-growing new energy vehicle (NEV) market. A total of 5.67m NEVs were sold last year, nearly twice as many as in 2021.
It is estimated that the global market for lithium battery anode materials will see compound annual growth of more than 25% over the next five years, reaching USD 50bn in 2025.
Kuntian will use the proceeds of the latest round to expand annual output capacity by 200,000 tons through the construction of a new facility in Yunnan province.
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