Luxury EV brand ZEEKR appears poised to be the following Chinese automaker to enter the US stock market by confidentially filing for an IPO. An influx of US money could actually aid the Geely Auto-owned brand in its plans to expand to Europe and North America, especially if it hits the $10 billion valuation it’s reportedly searching for.
Having only been established in March of 2021, ZEEKR stays a comparatively young luxury EV automotive brand in China. It exists under the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd umbrella, higher generally known as Geely. Geely added ZEEKR to its EV repertoire as a high-end brand to compete with automakers like Tesla and NIO in China. To this point, it’s held its own.
The corporate’s flagship EV – the ZEEKR 001 – began deliveries overseas a yr ago, despite supply chain constraints and COVID-19 restrictions stifling EV production in China. From the get-go, ZEEKR has been quite public and assured in its plans to eventually enter markets in each North America and the EU.
The ZEEKR 001 crossover is about to make its method to Europe next yr and will soon be joined by the automaker’s second model – the 009 MPV. Although ZEEKR has not publicly shared a timeline for its entry into the US EV market, today’s news of its IPO filing offers more evidence of its roadmap moving forward.
ZEEKR confidentially files US IPO with hope to lift $1B
In accordance with Reuters, ZEEKR has confidentially filed for an IPO within the US, and two sources state the Geely sub-brand is searching for a valuation of over $10 billion if and when it does hit the stock market. For comparison, the EV automaker had a valuation of around $9 billion during its initial round of external funding last yr.
A ZEEKR IPO could mark the primary time US funds are used to support a Chinese company since Beijing began limiting overseas shares in the summertime of 2021 and the primary instance because the party got here to a brand new auditing agreement with the US this past August.
In accordance with the IPO filing made last week, ZEEKR could go public as early as Q2 of 2023. There’s flexibility to the timeline, due to the confidentiality of the IPO filing, which also gives details of ZEEKR’s business dealings longer protection from the general public eye, not to say the eyes of its competitors.
Geely has declined to comment on the matter, as neither it nor ZEEKR has officially confirmed plans for an IPO in Recent York City. Moreover, the confidentiality of the filing prevents us from viewing it within the SEC’s database – at the least for now.
ZEEKR reportedly selected NYC as a substitute of Hong Kong to maximise its valuation, hoping to lift over $1 billion to support its global EV expansion. We’ll circle back when this IPO filing becomes public or is at the least confirmed by ZEEKR or Geely.