5Y News | Xpeng Motors announces completion of over $500 million Series A funding round
This marks the largest single funding round to date in Asia's low-altitude manned aircraft sector.
On October 19, Xpeng Motors' affiliate Xpeng Aeroht announced it had raised over $500 million in a Series A round at a pre-money valuation exceeding $1 billion. The round was led by IDG Capital, 5Y Capital, and Xpeng Motors, with participation from HSG, Eastern Bell Capital, GGV Capital, Hillhouse, and Yunfeng Capital. According to publicly available information, this marks the largest single funding round to date for an Asian low-altitude manned aircraft company.
Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital, said: "After Xpeng Motors went public, He Xiaopeng and I discussed the company's long-term development strategy, and specifically the internal drivers behind Chinese tech companies' strategic growth. Xiaopeng noted that Chinese tech entrepreneurs need to take on a new mission — they must break away from the prevalent copycat mentality of the past, dare to identify commercial problems with enormous societal value, and boldly invest in R&D to pursue world-class innovation. Xpeng Aeroht is He Xiaopeng's effort to put this vision into practice. The company represents Xpeng Motors' bold experiment in the future form of transportation. At 5Y, we want to help entrepreneurs with grand visions, imagination, and a sense of social responsibility to challenge industry transformation, and to stand by and support them in building globally competitive and influential enterprises."
He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng Motors, said: "Xpeng Motors' exploration of future transportation extends beyond intelligent vehicles. We can already see that the convergence of information revolution, energy transformation, and industrial implementation — these three core drivers — is fully integrating in the intelligent mobility space. We will embrace this historic opportunity to explore more efficient, safer modes of travel and lifestyles aligned with carbon neutrality. This investment in Xpeng Aeroht will further accelerate our vision of a comprehensive intelligent transportation ecosystem spanning 'running, flying, and sailing.'"
Zhao Deli, president of Xpeng Aeroht, said: "This funding round signals capital markets' optimism about the flying car industry direction and recognition of Xpeng Aeroht's technical capabilities. Following this round, Xpeng Aeroht will further increase investment in flying car R&D and manufacturing, top-tier talent acquisition, and airworthiness certification. Our next-generation flying car will truly achieve integration of aircraft and automobile — capable of both ground driving and aerial flight — with a target public debut in 2024."
Against the global backdrop of sustainable development, an increasing number of domestic and international companies are positioning themselves in future aerial mobility. While most global eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) companies tend to pursue B2B air mobility services, Xpeng Aeroht maintains a priority focus on B2C, building flying car products for individuals. Future flying cars could serve urban air mobility (UAM), contributing to intelligent, green, three-dimensional transportation.
As one of the few Chinese private aviation companies with successful flight experience, Xpeng Aeroht is among the earliest tech companies to enter the flying car赛道, having been involved in manned aircraft since 2013. To date, it has successfully developed five generations of intelligent electric manned aircraft products.
Xpeng Aeroht is now Asia's largest flying car company by scale, headquartered in Guangzhou, with R&D centers and laboratories in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Silicon Valley. Current development test flights and compliance verification flights take place at the Haio Island Flight Base in Guangzhou's Panyu District. The team numbers nearly 500, over 80% of whom are in R&D, bringing together specialists in overall design, structural integrity, aerodynamic simulation, integrated avionics, manned test flight, flight control, autonomous driving, airworthiness, and safety.
Targeting urban air mobility (UAM), Xpeng Aeroht fuses intelligent vehicles with modern aviation, dedicated to building the world's safest intelligent electric flying cars, bringing flying cars into homes, and making mobility more liberated. Xpeng Aeroht participates in the formulation of design regulations for China's new aircraft types. It has completed over 15,000 safe manned flights and received top industrial design honors including Germany's Red Dot Award, Germany's iF Design Award, and the US IDEA Design Award.
5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital) currently manages approximately RMB 32 billion across USD and RMB dual-currency funds. 5Y Capital seeks out, supports, and inspires entrepreneurs who dare to stand alone, providing them with support from spiritual encouragement to full operational backing. We believe that if the "crazy" you in others' eyes begins to be believed in, the world will become a different place.
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