Zeekr, a Geely-backed electric car company, announced Monday that it had raised $750 million in funding from Chinese battery giant CATL and others.
Zeekr is not yet traded publicly, but Geely announced in December that the brand had filed for a confidential first public offering in the United States.
$8.01 billion market value of Zeekr
As per Refinitiv Eikon data accessed on Monday, Zeekr is now worth more than Xpeng, which had a market value of $8.01 billion.
According to the data, Nio and Li Auto are far more valuable, with market valuations of $17.22 billion and $25.22 billion, respectively.
Amnon Shashua, co-founder and CEO of self-driving tech firm Mobileye, is among Zeekr’s new investors. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to a press release, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and three state-affiliated funds have also taken part in the latest funding round.
Zeekr to enter the European market
Zeekr plans to use the funds for technological development and to join the European market this year.
In 2021, Geely launched the Zeekr electric vehicle brand. The Zeekr 001 coupe was first delivered in October of that year, and the company claims to have delivered over 80,000 units since then.
The Zeekr 001 costs between 300,000 and 386,000 yuan ($43,915). In comparison, Model Y starts at 261,900 yuan.
According to the company, deliveries of the much larger and boxier multi-purpose vehicle Zeekr 009 began in January. The starting price is 499,000 yuan.
Geely, based in China, purchased Volvo, a Swedish automaker previously owned by Ford Motor.
According to the China Passenger Car Association, Geely was the fourth-largest producer of new energy vehicle passenger cars in China in 2022, trailing Tesla China, which was third.
