At the end of 2017, it became an extremely active moment for new forces. In addition to the concentrated outbreak of new vehicle manufacturers and production vehicles, capital has become increasingly fierce in competition with new forces and intrinsically competes for the "entrance" of smart cars.
On December 5th, Baidu Capital led a new round of B-wheel financing for Weimar Automobile. Weima Motor's total equity and debt financing amounted to more than RMB 12 billion; the day before December 4th, Sequoia Capital China Fund With the zero-sprint car signing the investment framework, Sequoia China took the Pre-A round of zero-sprint auto financing, and became the only investor in the zero-sprint car except for the original shareholders.
One month ago, on November 8th, Weilai Automobile completed the D-round financing with more than US$1 billion led by Tencent, and Weilai’s equity financing exceeded 10 billion yuan. Not surprisingly, Ali will lead Xiao Ping’s B round of financing next year.
“There are great opportunities for upgrading the automobile, travel, and transportation industries in the Internet and AI era. This is an entrance and an important scene that must be occupied by capital represented by BAT and Sequoia.†December 11th, Jinshajiang United Capital Partners In an interview with reporters from the 21st Century Business Herald, Pan Xiaofeng said: “Their investment routines are basically the same, but Baidu is more lenient, and both open source and investment are at the same time.â€
"It's not surprising that all the capital has gone in. Everyone is involved. It's a good thing for the industry to mature as soon as possible." Zhang Jianxing, managing director of CDH, believes that the automobile is a very large industry in the clothing, food, housing and transportation industries, and the new energy vehicle is in stock. The market only accounts for less than 2% of the market share. In addition, there are still many cases in which asset valuation and money super-currency bring more money. Under such circumstances, new energy vehicles do have great development prospects.
“The development of consumer upgrading, information technology, new energy and artificial intelligence, as well as the gradual expansion of the influence of e-commerce, can all be reflected in the automotive industry, which is why investors are rushing for new car manufacturers.†On December 10, Zhang Junyi, partner of Weilai Capital, told reporters.
For the new forces manufacturers, there is more room for choice in the interest construction. Rovering is just a cut-in point, a platform, or a scene of technology implementation, such as payment scenarios and service scenarios. In the long run, car companies do not rely on selling cars to make money, but rely on services to make money and rely on users to make money. In this sense, it is also very important to choose BAT as a partner in the financing process.
"Of course, the new car companies understand that autopilot and car networking are the core of future competition. Maps and data are not completely relied upon by other ecosystems. Therefore, both new-foundation companies and internet companies are groping for each other's bottom line. There is cooperation and competition.Overall, there is a lot of strategic cooperation between BAT and car companies, but relying on others to send out their own Internet systems, is not in a strong car company.†Zhang Junyi said.
Sequoia Capital Takes the Initiative
On December 4th, at the Wuzhen Internet Conference, Sequoia Capital China Fund and Zero Motors signed an investment framework to lead the Zero-Run Auto Pre-A round of financing and became the only investor in Zero Run Auto except the original shareholders.
However, this is not the first time that Sequoia Capital has invested in new vehicles. As early as September 2015, Sequoia Capital, together with investors such as Pleasant Capital, has conducted a $500 million financing for Weilai.
“We believe that the future automobile must be an iterative intelligent terminal that integrates new energy driving, communications, machine vision, and large-scale computing capabilities, or a super-smart terminal.†On the 4th, Sequoia Capital’s chief executive Shen Nanpeng At the signing site told reporters.
“We have a deep capital structure and industry linkage in the automotive industry. Sequoia has invested in new energy power systems from the automotive upstream to ADAS, shared travel to the downstream, and then to automotive finance and automotive aftermarket services. It is already the focus of our layout, and we believe this can also help different companies achieve industrial synergy."
However, although the new forces are at risk, and like other start-ups, they also burn money in one round, but the new car companies do not seem to have much financial pressure.
It is understood that Sequoia took the initiative to contact with the Zero Run. The two parties only completed the due diligence investigation and investment intention determination within two months and signed the investment framework agreement during the Wuzhen Internet Conference. The efficiency is very high. Suisse Capital’s initiative to attack and quickly seize the car entrance has a lot to do with it.
"Compared with the rapid development of large-scale, zero-run cars, they want to lay a solid foundation and have been very cautious in terms of foreign investment. This pre-A round of financing was initiated by Sequoia China, which is in contact with zero-run cars, and in a short period of time. The entire process from contact to signing the investment framework agreement was completed in two months. Zhu Jiangming, the founder and chairman of the zero running car, said in an interview with a 21st Century Business Herald reporter.
Not only that, Sequoia Capital is very good at promoting the cooperation between its investment partners, joining the Sequoia Department, zero running car in addition to the capital level, the same value of resources brought about by Sequoia.
"Frankly speaking, funding is not the most important thing for us because we have invested a lot in UOB, and the purpose of this cooperation with Sequoia is to introduce more external resources to help ZERO to run better. Zhu Jiangming said.
In fact, from the upstream new energy power system, the ChargeDot piles of smart charging piles are provided to the horizon robots in the ADAS system, and downstream to the Mobike bicycles, everyday vehicles in the field of travel, and used cars in the aftermarket. , Dazai, Lechebang and other travel and auto trading platforms, Sequoia's layout in the automotive industry has been very deep.
Different capital routes
Various capital inflows have occurred and there are differences in performance.
For investment companies, investing more often is not determined by the nature of capital. According to Zhang Jianxing, the main fund of CDH Capital is a PE fund that invests in leading companies in mature stages. At present, no new forces are being invested in building vehicles, but it is not ruled out that it will not invest in the future.
Of course, although the capital is buoyant for new forces, there are also investors and investment institutions that are represented behind it. They are more optimistic about the transformation of traditional car companies and the products are positioned in the more extensive national electric car companies, such as Beiqi New Energy and Yundu. Cars and so on.
“Compared with the new forces that are targeting high-end or niche forces, we are more optimistic about traditional cars, because they involve large-scale mass production of system manufacturing capabilities, and this advantage is stronger than traditional automobile companies. In addition, from the consumption From the perspective of values, the economy of use is generally consistent with the economics of the acquisition, so the most cost-effective national car market is the largest market for application. We once planned to invest in BAIC New Energy, but because of the valuation and proportion The problem was ultimately not implemented,†said an investor who declined to be named when interviewing a 21st Century Business Herald reporter.
Obviously, the Internet companies that use BAT as their representative to invest in new forces have different ideas. On the one hand, they are more inclined to the early stage. In the list of Weilai and Weimar early investors, Tencent and Baidu can already be seen.
BAT's Internet genes have determined that they are more sensitive to projects that will form hot spots. Under the demonstration effect of Tesla, new energy projects will become a must. At the same time, based on the automotive industry to do platform scenes, is also a path of transformation for many Internet companies.
However, BAT seems to have different preferences and biases in its investment strategy. Baidu is a leader in AI and autonomous driving. It hopes to cooperate with auto companies in open systems, and Ali will use autos as an important implementation scenario to promote its own cloud system.
"Baidu is not only a strategic investment, it will also have a profound impact on car companies in terms of their data navigation. These are exactly what Weimar needs." Zhang Jianxing told reporters.
Tencent wouldn't take it easily without seeing it clearly. “Now, investing in new vehicles is still a stage of wide netting. The situation is still unclear. Once the breakthrough has been selected, Tencent’s execution capability may be stronger on the allocation of resources including R&D.†Zhang Jianxing told reporters.
On December 10, Li Bin, chairman of Weilai Automobile, one of China's new power builders, divided the BAT investment into four types: the first is true empowerment; the second is the type of occupancy; The three are so-called business synergies and the fourth is cannon fodder.
“I would like to appreciate Ma’s investment method – decentralized empowerment does not affect your independence. Decentralization is the healthiest way to invest. I think the most important thing that should not be encouraged is the cannon-fog type and fortification-type investment method. , Encumbered entrepreneurs and other investors." Li Bin stressed.
Who else is investing in new forces?
In the tide of investment in new forces, not only the Internet and venture capital are extremely active and active, but also national and local governments are playing an important role.
New start-up companies of "Zhong Guo Zi", including Guoneng New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Electric Industry Co. And Guojin Automobile, an emerging electric car company invested and established by the Guojin Automobile Group, has started to deploy in the new energy sector.
On December 4, SINOMAC stated that it has been maintaining close contact with Alibaba.com to explore new models and new formats of automotive e-commerce and automotive Internet. There are currently a number of projects underway.
On September 28th, Guojin Automotive Group officially released the “State Gold Auto†brand in Zibo, Shandong Province. At the same time, it released a pure electric MPV model GM3 with a total investment of 4.35 billion yuan, and has completed the first round of 500 million yuan financing. .
In fact, in addition to capital, technology, and research and development, the production base is also one of the most important conditions for new forces to build cars. Local governments that can provide land, resources, and credit for construction are also investors that cannot be ignored by new forces.
Taking the example of the new forces of building Eche-Ubi, the enthusiasm of local governments for new energy vehicles is evident. On October 30 last year, the Shangrao Government signed a cooperation project with Shanghai Aiqi Yiwei Technology Co., Ltd. with new energy vehicles. The total investment amounted to 13.3 billion yuan. This is an industrial project with the largest single investment since the construction of Shangrao City. After the completion of the first phase of the project, it will be able to annually produce 150,000 new energy vehicles. After the completion of the second phase, it will be able to annually produce 150,000 new energy vehicles. After the completion of the two phases, the capacity of 300,000 vehicles will be realized.
Compared with software, chip or film and television and other innovative industries, the automotive industry as a higher output value of industry, but also more capable of stimulating the upstream and downstream manufacturing and the overall economic level of the region, is undoubtedly the most adaptable to local governments in high-end manufacturing industry.
“For local governments, pulling the local economy is very important. From such a long period of verification, if the development is good, the vehicle company can really drive the local economic development, so the local governments are eager to attract the vehicle. After the completion of the plant, the upstream and downstream parts companies will also settle down, and they will be able to build an overall system." Zhang Junyi finally said.
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