Changan Kaicheng, the commercial vehicle business arm under Chinese state-owned automaker Changan Automobile, has notched over 2.08 billion yuan ($285 million) in a Series A round.
The round saw the participation of its parent firm Changan Automobile; several government industry and state capital-affiliated funds; and CCB Investment, the investment arm of China Construction Bank, among others, as Kaicheng seeks to rope in external investors to diversify its ownership.
Post financing, Changan Automobile remains Kaicheng’s largest shareholder with a 65.9% stake, according to an exchange filing dated December 31. The proceeds will help to consolidate the resources and accelerate Kaicheng’s overseas expansion, per the filing.
The capital infusion comes at a time when Kaicheng recorded an unaudited net loss of around 23.2 million yuan ($3.2 million) in the first nine months of 2024. That was 69.4% less than the audited net loss of around 75.7 million yuan ($10.4 million) in 2023.
Despite the narrowing net loss, Kaicheng saw its debt ratio grow a tad from 2023’s 89.2% to 90.7% in the first nine months of 2024, according to a separate exchange filing dated December 18.
China’s burgeoning new energy commercial vehicles market saw an 80% growth of new energy commercial vehicles in the first 11 months of 2024, compared to the same period last year. The commercial EV penetration rate stood at around 20%, according to data shared by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers secretary general Cui Dongshu.
