Avita secures a hundred billion financing

Author | Chai Xuchen

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

Avita, which has been active recently, is about to secure a rare large financing in the automotive industry this year.

On October 11th, at the Avita key supplier partner communication meeting, President Chen Zhuo revealed the latest financing situation. He stated that Avita is currently undergoing Series C financing, with a scale of 10 billion RMB; the post-investment valuation of the company will increase from 20 billion RMB in Series B to over 30 billion RMB.

It is worth mentioning that the capital market's enthusiasm for new energy vehicles has cooled down this year. According to incomplete statistics from Wall Street News, there were a total of 232 financing cases in the industry in the first half of the year, a decrease of 10.1% year-on-year, with a total disclosed transaction amount of 34.89 billion RMB. This makes Avita's hundred-billion RMB Series C financing particularly prominent.

The ongoing Series C financing may be Avita's secret push towards an IPO.

In September of this year, Changan Automobile revealed in response to investor inquiries that "Avita will develop independently, operate independently in a market-oriented manner, and integrate strategic partner resources, with independent listing plans." This aligns perfectly with Avita's recent series of interconnected plans.

Since August 20th, Avita has been making continuous moves. First, it announced a 1.15 billion RMB investment in Huawei's Vision, establishing an equity relationship with Huawei's Automotive BU, indirectly raising Avita's value; shortly after, it signed a contract with Qatar's ALATTIYA Automotive Group, preparing to enter the Middle East market on a large scale.

Following that, the Avita 07, which aims to surpass the Model Y, also received a surge in orders after its release. Insiders revealed to Wall Street News that the Avita 07 recorded 11,700 orders within 20 hours of its release, with an additional 1,000 units per day during the National Day holiday. The success of the 07 has boosted Avita's morale, and this is just the beginning.

Previously, Chen Zhuo revealed that Avita aims to achieve monthly sales of 20,000 vehicles in December this year. This target will be supported by multiple models, including the Avita 07, Avita 11, 12, two pure electric products, the upcoming extended-range version, and the sedan product with the codename "E16". In the next three years, Avita has even grander plans, with 17 models including five-seat SUVs, large six-seat SUVs, MPVs, and coupes.

Breaking through sales records, expanding the product lineup, accelerating international expansion, and partnering with Huawei, Avita is actively telling a more concrete high-end brand story to the outside world. It aims to become the next Aito and gain more resources in the capital market.

Looking back, Avita's desire for an IPO was evident even before the brand was established. At the time of the renaming from "Changan Nio" to "Avita" in 2021, the then CEO Tan Benhong had already stated publicly that the brand had plans for an independent listing.

It is not difficult to understand that in the era of new energy, Changan Automobile is eager to shed its label as a mid-to-low-end player. As the leading brand in the group's upward trajectory, Avita is highly anticipated, and its listing on the secondary market is undoubtedly an important part of this strategy Guangqi Aion General Manager Gu Huinan once pointed out, "Capital has a great influence. When stocks rise, it will let hundreds of millions of people know about such a brand. It is difficult to rely solely on publicity." This is exactly what the "second-generation entrepreneurs" brand urgently needs.

Currently, the listing process of Aion is taking shape. Earlier this year, a securities firm revealed that Aion will go public in Hong Kong in 2025.

However, Aion also understands that the capital market's enthusiasm for new energy vehicles is gradually waning. In order to truly gain a foothold in the market, besides telling compelling stories, it is more important to implement them one by one. This means that Aion must find a way to overcome the current hurdle of sales volume.

From January to September this year, Aion delivered 40,900 new vehicles, which is less than half of the annual target of 84,000 vehicles; among them, 4,537 units were recorded in September, which is quite a gap compared to the KPI of 20,000 units in December.

Aion needs to speed up, quickly ramping up sales with Aion 07 and the extended-range versions of Aion 11 and 12. On the other hand, after announcing a 11.5 billion yuan investment attraction, the current multi-billion C-round financing can also alleviate some of Aion's financial pressure.

With a gradually clear roadmap and continuously rising value, Aion, which has been in the industry for three years, finally has the opportunity to take the industry's leading position. Next, if it can successfully achieve its established goals, it may truly lead Changan Group to new heights and win a turnaround battle in the capital market like Tesla