Top investors behind China's power battery industry

Power batteries have always been called the heart of electric vehicles. At present, Chinese-funded enterprises firmly occupy the dominant position in this trillion-dollar track, but the battle among enterprises for "the throne of the future global power arena" is far from over.

Especially in recent years, driven by capital frenzy, the power battery industry has entered a new round of brutal industrial competition and reshuffle cycle.

For example, according to statistics from the 24Chao team, more than 150 major power battery projects have been announced since 2022, with a total investment budget of over 1.7 trillion yuan.

Previously, the 24Chao team combined data from various securities firms, company announcements, etc. and found that only the 17 power battery companies around the world that have disclosed their production capacity plans have a total production capacity of nearly 1,600GWh by the end of 2022, and the total production capacity plan by 2025 is even more As high as 5868GWh. If we consider the development plans of other industry giants around the world, the production capacity planning of global power battery companies in 2025 is likely to exceed 8000GWh! This far exceeds the market's most optimistic demand expectations. (For details, see the article "Over 1.7 trillion is thrown at power batteries!")

In the power battery project investment list, some companies are neither listed companies nor well-known in the industry. Some companies have been established for less than 2 years, but they claim to invest tens of billions of funds to expand power battery projects. , the attack momentum is very fierce. What do they rely on?

The reason is that in addition to management and technical factors, the most important thing is the favor and support of top capital.

After penetrating the equity structure of the current major players in the power battery industry, the 24Chao team discovered the presence of nearly a hundred top capital companies. These top investors either have registered capital of more than 1 billion yuan, or control funds/wealth of more than 1 billion yuan. These nearly 100 top investment institutions have trillions of wealth (assets) under their control.

Among these top investment institutions, in addition to traditional investment giants such as Shenzhen Venture Capital, there are also an increasing number of industrial investment institutions with local government or even national backgrounds.

For example, the China State-owned Enterprise Mixed Ownership Reform Fund Co., Ltd. has a registered capital of 70.7 billion yuan, the Advanced Manufacturing Industry Investment Fund Phase II has a capital contribution of 49.8 billion yuan, and the central enterprise Rural Industry Investment Fund Co., Ltd. has a registered capital of 33.294 billion yuan. Company, etc.

In January this year, the Sichuan Green and Low-Carbon Industry Development Fund was officially established and operated. The fund has a total scale of 5 billion yuan. It adopts a "government guidance + market operation" model and mainly invests in green and low-carbon industries in Sichuan Province, focusing on supporting clean energy, power batteries, Crystalline silicon photovoltaics, vanadium and titanium, storage and environmental protection technology, green materials, environmental restoration, resource reuse and other industries.

In addition, domestic and foreign automobile giants such as Honda, Volkswagen, Geely, Mercedes-Benz, and BAIC have also appeared on the list of the top ten shareholders of listed power battery companies; and well-known overseas investment banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs have also entered the power battery field through the secondary market. .

In addition, according to the statistics of the 24Chao team based on public data (incomplete), there have been 50 financing incidents in the power battery industry in the past year, and financing of more than 100 million yuan has become the norm in the industry.

Under the frenzied pursuit of capital, even the financing time in the field of power battery recycling is showing an increasing trend. According to incomplete statistics from public data, the 24Chao team found that there have been more than 20 financing incidents in the field of power battery recycling in the past year, and more and more investors are pouring into this track.

The financing progress of Qingtao Energy and Sunwanda Power has attracted the most attention in the power battery industry and capital circles this year.

On May 27, SAIC Motor announced that in order to deepen the layout of solid-state battery technology and enhance the competitiveness of new energy products, SAIC Motor plans to invest through Jiaxing Chuangqi Venture Capital Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Jiaxing Qijun No. 1 Equity Investment Partnership (limited partnership) to invest no more than RMB 2.7 billion in Qingtao Energy. Relevant announcements show that Qingtao Energy’s latest valuation has exceeded 20 billion yuan.

Li Feng, founding partner of Fengrui Capital, once lamented that when it was initially invested in 2016, Qingtao Energy was valued at tens of millions of yuan. At that time, it was difficult to predict that it would become a company valued at tens of billions in the primary market today.

On July 14, Sunwanda also announced that it planned to spin off its holding subsidiary Sunwanda Power and list it on the GEM of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. “Through this spin-off, Sunwanda Power, as the company’s independent new energy vehicle power battery R&D, production and sales platform, will be independently listed, and through listing financing, it will enhance its financial strength and enhance the profitability of the new energy vehicle power battery business. and comprehensive competitiveness.”

According to the 36Kr Venture Capital platform and spin-off plan, there are 72 shareholders of Sunwanda Power, including well-known investment institutions such as IDG Capital, Shenzhen Venture Capital, Source Code Capital, CCB Equity, and a group headed by "Wei Xiaoli" Many downstream car companies.

Sunwanda Power’s latest valuation reached 35.56 billion yuan, and as of the close of trading on September 8, Sunwanda’s total market value was only 29.834 billion yuan.

This is the power of top capital.