Brand is a collaboration between battery maker CATL, tech company Huawei, and car maker Changan
Chinese car maker AVATR has raised RMB 11 billion ($1.5 billion) in a series C funding round ahead of a targeted IPO in 2026.
The funding, which has come from Changan as well as new and existing investors, will ensure the brand has sufficient capital to continue development of new models, expand operations overseas, and for brand building efforts.
The investments mean Changan’s 40.99 percent stake will remain unchanged, while CATL’s stake drops from 14.1 percent to 9.17 percent.
It means capital into AVATR will be boosted by over RMB ten billion RMB, with 4.5 billion coming from Changan.
AVATR, like most other Chinese EV makers, is a loss-making organisation at present and has accumulated RMB 7.1 billion in debt since 2022, but Changan’s aim is to break even by the end of 2024.
Much of the potential success of that target will depend upon increased sales numbers, something AVATR has found fairly hard to come by until recent months where they have secured successive months with over 10,000 sales.
Part of this success is down to the brand’s expansion from being an EV-only brand to one that also includes extended range EVs (EREVs), with the recently launched 07 being the first model, followed by the existing 11 and 12 models.
The upcoming 06, revealed just last week, should extend this success further and will most likely come with both powertrain variants.
AVATR models leverage their connection with Huawei to feature the latest Qiankun ADAS system and a new agreement signed earlier in December indicates the two brands are aiming to deepen their collaboration, extending it to product development, marketing, and eco-services, which could potentially see AVATR models displayed in Huawei stores.
AVATR also picked up 10 percent of Huawei’s automotive unit, Newcool, back in August, to become the second-largest shareholder, which could see further synergies unlocked.
Context
AVATR originally started out as a collaboration between the fledgling NIO and the established Changan, but by 2020 Changan had assumed more than 95 percent of the shares.
NIO was removed from the name when AVATR became the new brand name in 2021 and NIO has since been removed from the shareholder list.
