By
Svetlana Soroka
April 18th, 2024
Before news of the US IPO came to light, Zeekr has been taking steps to expand itself, including partnering with Mobileye.
Zeekr, the electric car brand of Chinese multinational automotive company Geely, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US. Anonymous sources revealed that the company is seeking to raise more than $1 billion in capital through the proposed public offering. Zeekr reportedly submitted its filings with US regulators with plans to list in New York as soon as the first half of 2023. If successful, the IPO would be the first major Chinese listing in the US in about two years. Notably, the Chinese government banned foreign IPOs that restricted companies from American stock.
Zeekr Seeks $1 Billion from Proposed US IPO
Sources with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed that Zeekr is looking at a more than $10 billion valuation after securing $1 billion from the US IPO. However, the EV maker did not specify the number of shares it would offer in the filing. Also, there are no details on the price range of the share of the exact listing date.
Before news of the US IPO came to light, Zeekr has been taking steps to expand itself, including partnering with Mobileye. The EV company collaborated with advanced driver assistance systems and AV technology company to develop all-electric autonomous vehicles. About a week ago, Zeekr had a joint event with Waymo to display its Autonomous Mobility Platform in Los Angeles. The Autonomous Mobility Platform is an electric vehicle, like a minivan, developed with Waymo’s AV stack for logistics operations and future robotaxi.
Zeekr is persistent in seeking global expansion, evident in its partnerships and the most recent US IPO filing. It also considers other EV giants, like Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Chinese peer Nio, as competitors. Meanwhile, the sales of new energy cars (NEV) recently reached record levels in China. That was the same time Zeekr unveiled its latest autonomous SEA-M platform. The Chinese company also launched its second vehicle model, the 009, and ramped up the production of its debut model, the 001. The EV maker plans to market its flagship model in Europe this coming year. The vehicle is already making a name for itself. The battery-electric car hitched two Guinness World Records this year. First is the title for the fastest drift ever achieved by an EV (207.996 km/hr). And secondly, the fastest electric car slalom (50 cones in 49.05 seconds).
Geely Considers Specializing in EV Business
Additionally, the parent company Geely is considering further specialization in the EV business. The company wants to expand its presence in the electric vehicle industry by making 50% of its vehicle sales to be electric in 2023. This can be tied to Zeekr’s mission to enter the European markets next year. Gelly’s vision for the coming years requires capital, and the proposed US IPO for Zeekr could pull in the funds needed to execute the goals.