China electric-car maker WM raises $1bn

Bloomberg

A former top executive behind China’s biggest acquisition of an overseas carmaker is setting out to make history twice, raising $1 billion in an initial fundraising round as the latest homegrown electric
vehicle startup to challenge Tesla Motors Inc.
Freeman Shen left Volvo Cars owner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. in 2014 and last year founded WM Motor, which he says has secured funding from both domestic and overseas investors. WM plans to introduce its first model in 2018 and boost production to more than 100,000 units annually within the following three years, he said.
“We have profound experience in the industry, which distinguishes us from other startup companies, even Tesla,” Shen, who’s worked in the auto industry for 22 years, said in an interview in Shanghai. “We don’t want to make toy-like luxury cars
for the minority. We will target the mass market.”
The sum WM said it’s raised is a show of confidence in a startup competing with more than 200 Chinese electric-vehicle companies, some backed by the likes of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma, Foxconn Technology Group’s Terry Gou and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Ma Huateng. Both traditional automakers and the bevy of startups see potential in the government’s commitment to boost yearly sales of new-energy vehicles — its term for plug-in hybrid and fully-electric cars — by 10-fold in the next decade.
BORN UNICORN
Startups rarely reach the so-called unicorn status of a $1 billion valuation in initial funding rounds. Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group Co., known as Ant Financial and controlled by Alibaba’s billionaire chairman Ma, raised funds at about a $40 billion valuation in June 2015. Tesla started with just $7.5 million in April 2004.
To reduce dependence on oil imports and curtail pollution, the
Chinese government is promoting what it considers a strategic industry by subsidizing both companies
and consumers. It’s seeking 3 million new-energy vehicle sales a year
by 2025, from 330,000 in 2015, when the country surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s biggest electric-car market.