Chinese startups Itbox and Naturobot have raised funds from various private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investors. Separately, SoftBank-backed Chinese fitness app Keep has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong in its third attempt to list on the bourse.
Haima Automobile joins Itbox’s equity financing round
Electric taxi maker Itbox has notched 1 billion yuan ($145.2 million) in equity financing to bring electrified taxi fleets to the market, according to a company release.
Zhongyu New Energy Vehicle Industry Fund, a 15-billion-yuan ($2.2 billion) fund set up by several state-affiliated groups and guidance funds, injected 400 million yuan ($58.1 million) in the equity round, while state-backed Henan Intelligent Connected New Energy Vehicle Development chipped in 500 million yuan ($72.7 million).
The rest came from Chinese carmaker Haima Automobile, which invested 100 million yuan ($14.5 million), per the release.
Founded in 2013, the Beijing-based firm specialises in the research & development and manufacture of automobiles and parts. Currently, the firm has three EV models for professional drivers.
Naturobot bags funds from Hillhouse, Shunwei
Chinese robotic process automation startup Naturobot has raised $7 million in a Pre-A financing round led by Beijing-based VC Shunwei Capital, according to a company announcement.
The round also saw participation from Picus Capital’s team in Beijing and global PE firm Hillhouse, Hangzhou-based financial software solution provider Sunyard, and early-stage enterprise software and cloud computing-focused Chinese VC firm Eminence Ventures.
The funds will be used for product research and development, market expansion, and team building, the statement said.
Naturobot was founded in 2021, Its platform allows general software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms to help improve their digital efficiency and agility through automation services.
SoftBank-backed fitness app Keep files for IPO in HK
Keep Inc, the largest online fitness platform in China in terms of monthly active users, has made a third attempt to list in Hong Kong on Tuesday through an IPO application.
Keep filed its first Hong Kong IPO in February 2022, and its second application in September, however both of the applications lapsed for unknown reasons.
The firm appointed Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C. and China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited as IPO sponsors, although the firm did not disclose a listing timeline and the funds that it aims to raise via listing, per the filing.
The firm booked a net loss of 104.6 million yuan ($15.2 million) in 2022, down 96% from 2.9 billion yuan in 2021, while its revenue also logged a 37.5% growth to 2.2 billion yuan ($319.7 million) in 2022.
Founded in 2015, the firm has completed a total of nine fundraising rounds, raising almost $650 million from a slew of notable investors including GGV Capital, 5Y Capital, and SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.
