Geely's "flying car" breaks financing record!

Three rounds of financing in one year, breaking two records

On June 27, Sichuan Wofei Changkong Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wofei Changkong"), a subsidiary of Geely Technology Group, officially announced the completion of a B round of financing of several hundred million yuan, led by Ceyuan Capital, followed by China Control Fund, China Science and Technology Star, Aoxiang Tianxing, Quanzhou Hairui and others.

It is reported that the financing funds will be mainly used for the research and development and commercialization of its fully self-developed product AE200, to accelerate the implementation of urban air traffic and promote the high-quality development of China's low-altitude economy.

It is worth noting that this is also the largest single financing in the domestic low-altitude economic eVTOL industry in the past two years.

If we extend the timeline a little bit, the record of over US$500 million in Series A financing set by Xpeng Huitian, a subsidiary of Xpeng Motors, in 2021 still has no rivals.

So far, the first and second place in single financing in the domestic eVTOL track have been "won" by car companies.

Ph.D. from China Southern Airlines Starts Business

The story of Wofei Changkong starts with its founder Guo Liang.

This aviation person born in the 1980s aspired to build airplanes since he was a child. After graduating from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics with a major in aircraft design, he returned to his hometown of Sichuan and joined the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute of AVIC.

In 2015, Guo Liang resigned and started his own business, establishing Sichuan Aoshi Technology Co., Ltd., focusing on the research and development and industrialization of high-end drones ;

In 2019, he joined the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China as a master's supervisor and deputy director of the Intelligent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology Research Center, continuing to delve deeper into the field of aircraft.

At the same time, Guo Liang keenly realized that future aircraft technology will develop in the direction of new energy, intelligence and vertical take-off and landing. Based on this judgment, he set his sights on the cutting-edge field of eVTOL and became acquainted with Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Group. The two then hit it off and co-founded Wofei Changkong in 2020.

As the saying goes, "It's good to lean on a big tree for shade." As an important chess piece in Geely Technology Group's layout of low-altitude travel, Wofei Changkong has had the inherent advantages of industrial resources and financial support from the very beginning.

However, the success of Wofei Changkong is not based on luck, but on hard power. The company had a sense of pride in "daring to be the first" when it was founded.

In the field of manned eVTOL, there are three main technical routes: multi-rotor, composite wing, and tilt-rotor, with increasing difficulty. Tilt-rotor technology has obvious advantages in terms of endurance, speed, load and comfort. Once it is conquered, it will bring significant competitive advantages to the company.

Wofei Changkong chose to bravely venture into the "deep waters", which shows the team's confidence in its technology.

If we work backwards from the results, this decision is indeed quite forward-looking. In the ranking of global eVTOL R&D companies released by Aviation Weekly of the United States this year, seven of the top ten companies bet on the tilt-rotor configuration, and Wofei Changkong is the only Chinese company.

Thanks to the rich experience and strong strength of the core team, after three years of intensive research, Wofei Changkong's core product AE200 was first unveiled to the public at the end of 2023.

The AE200 has a wingspan of 14.5 meters, a height of 4.6 meters, and a length of 9 meters. It is a 5-6-seater tilt-rotor pure electric eVTOL with a cruising speed of up to 248km/h and a range of 200 kilometers, which is three times higher than the traditional eVTOL with a range of 50-60 kilometers. It can cover most urban and intercity travel scenarios, and has zero emissions and low noise.

Then good news came one after another.

In January this year, the AE200 airworthiness technology verification aircraft completed its maiden flight, becoming China's first manned eVTOL to obtain the Civil Aviation Administration's airworthiness certification approval. In June, the AE200 verification aircraft successfully completed all subjects of a series of flight tests including full-size, full-weight, and full-envelope tilt-and-transition tests, becoming China's first and the world's second eVTOL company to complete such test subjects.

These developments mark a historic breakthrough for Wofei Changkong in the research and development of eVTOL technology, and its product technology has taken a leading position in the world.

In addition, the company plans to pass the airworthiness certification and product type certification in 2026, after which it can enter the commercial application and mass manufacturing stage. Chengdu citizens are expected to experience small-batch fixed-route services.

Although this timetable seems far away, it is actually a very aggressive goal in the long cycle of aviation industry development.

Favored by capital

To date, Wofei Changkong has completed three rounds of financing, and the amount of financing is also very "eye-catching". The A round alone raised more than 100 million yuan. The shareholder lineup is even more luxurious, and state-owned funds are also lining up to bet.

In June 2023, Wofei Changkong completed a round A financing of over 100 million yuan led by China Control Fund.

China Control Fund has accumulated 16 years of investment experience in the fields of advanced manufacturing and high-end equipment, and has created a development pattern with a complete and fully functional aerospace industry chain. This round of financing has introduced more upstream and downstream resources of the industrial chain to Wofei Changkong, and worked together to improve the ecological layout of the low-altitude economic field.

The participating investor is Hangzhou Yuanhe Jiming Gengzi Equity Investment, a subsidiary of Suzhou Yuanhe Holdings, a wholly state-owned enterprise; Shaanxi Aoxiang Tianxing Venture Capital is the largest shareholder (holding 50% of the shares) of the state-owned Shaanxi International Trust Co., Ltd.

In December 2023, Wofei Changkong completed its A+ round of financing, led by China Science and Technology Star, China's first professional platform focusing on hard technology venture capital and incubation, and with participation from Huaxi Jinzhi Investment, Yunsheng Fund, Yunhang Capital, Huakong Fund, Sichuan Fengchi Enterprise Management, and Zhejiang Airport Capital.

This round of B financing of several hundred million yuan was led by Ceyuan Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chengdu Hi-Tech Investment Group Co., Ltd. The company is also the first aircraft company that Ceyuan Capital has invested in.

There are profound reasons behind Wofei Changkong's ability to complete three rounds of financing in a short period of time and to continuously expand its scale.

The year 2024 is known as the "first year of low-altitude economy" in China. Low-altitude economy was written into the government work report for the first time, becoming a key development direction at the national strategic level. At the same time, the national level is also actively promoting the formulation and improvement of relevant policies.

In October 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China jointly issued the "Green Aviation Manufacturing Development Outline (2023-2035)", which clearly stated that by 2025, eVTOL will be put into pilot operation; by 2035, a green aviation manufacturing system with integrity, advancement and safety will be established, and new energy aircraft will become the mainstream of development.

The introduction of these policies has pointed out the direction for the development of the eVTOL industry and provided strong support.

According to the forecast of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, by 2025, the scale of China's low-altitude economic market will reach 1.5 trillion yuan, and is expected to reach 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035.

Such a huge market space naturally attracts the attention of capital. In the low-altitude economy, eVTOL, as an important sub-segment, is regarded as a revolutionary solution for future urban transportation, and its potential is self-evident.

As one of the leading companies in the industry, Wofei Changkong naturally becomes the target of investment institutions.

Furthermore, the core competitiveness of Wofei Changkong lies in its technological innovation capabilities and complete industrial chain layout. In addition to low-altitude flight, the company has fully utilized the advantages of Geely Group in new energy vehicles to develop vehicle-mounted flight business. This combination of technological innovation and industrial synergy has laid a solid foundation for the company's long-term development.

Last words

Looking around the world, the eVTOL industry is in a stage of rapid development. Many companies in countries and regions such as the United States, Europe, and Japan have made plans in this field.

In such a competitive environment, Chinese companies are facing both challenges and rare opportunities. Wofei Changkong's record-breaking financing has undoubtedly injected a shot in the arm for the development of China's low-altitude economy, demonstrating the innovation capabilities and development potential of Chinese companies in the eVTOL field.