Fresh funding for the EV battery company comes as Chinese automotive players are ramping up mobility investment efforts.
Greater Bay Technology (GBT), a China-based battery technology developer incubated by automotive manufacturer GAC Group, has closed a RMB1bn ($150m) series A round that helped it reach a valuation of over $1bn.
Multiple investment groups backed the round, participating together with similarly unnamed returning shareholders.
Much as in the rest of the world, EV, autonomous driving and other innovative mobility-related areas have witnessed exponential growth in China over the past few years, and many of the ecosystem builders have set up their own corporate venturing units.
GAC Group has made strategic investments in recent months in companies such as automated ride hailing service Ruqi Mobility and autonomous driving technology producer WeRide.
In addition, Nio Capital, the China-based venture capital firm co-formed by domestic EV maker Nio, closed its second fund, Eve One Fund II, at about $400m in March this year.
In the same month, another China-based VC firm, Rockets Capital, also closed its maiden vehicle at more than $200m from limited partners including EV manufacturer XPeng, which anchored the fund.
Founded in 2020, GBT focuses on research, development (R&D) and production of fast-charging batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage equipment and associated systems.
The company intends to use the funding to ramp up its R&D and manufacturing efforts for its battery products, in addition to increasing its technology footprint in the EV ecosystem. It is also building additional R&D hubs in Guangzhou’s Nansha district to be inaugurated by 2023.
GBT had secured hundreds of millions of yuan in a pre-series A round in July 2021 co-led by two vehicles for investment banking firm GF Securities and backed by BOC & Utrust Private Equity Fund Management, Guangzhou Industrial Investment Fund Management and Scheme Capital.
Image courtesy of Greater Bay Technology, Co, Ltd.
