Changan Automobile (SZ: 000625) recently announced that AVATR Technology, a pioneer in the smart electric vehicle (SEV) industry, has successfully completed its B round of financing, raising CNY 3 billion. It is worth noting that during this financing round, AVATR Technology's value increased by CNY 11.968 billion, resulting in a value-added rate of 565.25% and a post-investment valuation of nearly CNY 20 billion.
According to reports, AVATR's recent financing round was followed by additional investments from Changan Auto, Southern Capital, and Liangjiang Capital. In addition, state-owned capital such as Chongqing Industrial Fund of Funds, BOCOM International (Shanghai) Equity Investment, and Guangzhou Development District Holding Group were also brought in.
Following the capital financing, Changan Auto's shareholding ratio retained its previous position of 40.99%. The shareholding ratio of Southern Capital increased slightly from 7.35% to 7.81%. However, CATL's (SZ: 300750) shareholding ratio decreased from 17.1% to 14.1%, placing them in second place.
According to Tan Benhong, the Chairman and CEO of AVATR Technology, the recent round of funding will help speed up the research and development process for AVATR's upcoming products, enhance their market branding efforts, and enable them to make significant progress and advancements in the high-end SEV field.
AVATR announced plans to complete the construction of 350 channel contacts by the end of 2023 and launch "Four New Vehicles in Four Years" by 2024.
AVATR Technology was founded in July 2018 with support from Changan Auto, Huawei, and CATL. Prior to this round of financing, AVATR completed two rounds of funding.
In November 2021, AVATR completed its first round of strategic financing with a post-investment valuation of CNY 788 million. CATL acquired 28.99% of the shares and became the second-largest shareholder.
In August 2022, AVATR completed another round of Series A financing, raising CNY 2.547 billion. Changan Auto also secured six strategic investments, including China Merchants Capital Holdings and INNO CHIP.
As of the completion of this round of financing, the total financing of AVATR has reached nearly CNY 8 billion.
Despite its potential, AVATR is currently experiencing financial losses. According to the available data, the company has recorded losses of CNY 150 million, CNY 210 million, and CNY 2.015 billion in the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 respectively. Furthermore, in the first quarter of 2023, AVATR suffered an additional loss of CNY 643 million.
In the past 10 months, over 12,000 AVATR 11 and AVATR 011 vehicles have been delivered since their official release. Additionally, AVATR aims to introduce the AVATR 12 model later this year.
AVATR announced on July 14 the release of their new medium and large sedan, AVATR 12, which was included in the 373rd batch of new car announcements by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. According to AVATR, the world premiere of AVATR 12 will take place on September 4th in Munich and it will be available for purchase later this year.
