Wuhan Weineng – Nio’s battery asset management joint venture plans to launch a Series B financing round, said an announcement Monday by Shangdong Weida Group, one of the company’s shareholders.
Weida, Nio’s battery swap station supplier, holds a 9.92 percent stake in Weineng. Nio will become the largest shareholder of Weineng after the new round of financing is completed.
A total of 10 interested parties including Nio, Silicon Paradise, Changjiang Fund intend to participate in this round of financing, with a total planned amount of RMB 531 million ($82 million).
Weineng’s overall valuation before this financing is RMB 2.5 billion, as negotiated by all parties.
After the completion of this financing, Weineng will have an additional registered capital of RMB 321 million, and the registered capital will increase from RMB 1.512 billion to RMB 1.833 billion.
Nio will become the largest shareholder of Weineng, accounting for 19.84 percent of the registered capital. Previously Nio, Guotai Junan International Holdings Limited, Hubei Science Technology Investment Group Co, and CATL all hold 13.32 percent of the shares.
After the completion of this financing, Weida’s shareholding in Weineng will decrease from 9.92 percent to 8.18 percent.
Weineng was established on August 18, 2020, with a registered capital of RMB 800 million by CATL, Nio, Guotai Junan and Hubei Science Technology Investment.
The company’s business scope includes power battery leasing, repair, wholesale and retail, planning, R&D and design of electric vehicle charging and switching infrastructure, R&D and production of equipment and components related to switching stations, charging piles and energy storage systems.
In August last year, Nio launched BaaS (Battery as a Service) battery leasing business, with Weineng as the manager of the battery assets.
The BaaS business allows users to purchase Nio vehicles without buying batteries, thus reducing the cost of the vehicle at the time of purchase by at least RMB 70,000.
