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WM Motor Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
WM Motor was acquired by Apollo Future Mobility for $2B in January 2023.
WM Motor acquisition price
$2B
Acquired by Apollo Future Mobility · Jan 2023
Cumulative funding WM Motor raised
$3.5B
across 6 funding rounds
About WM Motor
WM Motor is a Shanghai-based electric vehicle manufacturer producing smart EVs like the EX5 SUV and EX6 sedan for the Chinese market. Founded in 2015, it integrates the Living Motion powertrain, Living Pilot ADAS, and Living Engine infotainment system in its vehicles equipped with 70-100 kWh batteries offering 500-700 km range. WM Motor partners with battery suppliers CATL and NIDEC for components, delivering over 100,000 units since launch. The company expands through direct sales and focuses on Level 2+ autonomous driving features.
Founded
2015
HQ
Website
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2C
Revenue model
Product sales
Valuation
$889M (Dec 2017)
WM Motor Acquisition
WM Motor was acquired by Apollo Future Mobility for $2B on 13 January 2023.
Before the acquisition WM Motor had raised $3.5B across 6 funding rounds.
WM Motor, a Chinese electric vehicle maker backed by Baidu, entered into an acquisition agreement with Apollo Future Mobility Group on January 11, 2023, for approximately $2 billion USD. Apollo's subsidiary, Castle Riches Investments Limited, planned to acquire 100% of WM Motor Global Investment Limited, which owns over 80% of WM Smart Mobility Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., WM Motor's major operating entity. The transaction was structured as a reverse merger and very substantial acquisition under Hong Kong listing rules, with Apollo issuing consideration shares valued at around HK$15.9 billion (US$2.02 billion). The deal aimed to provide a financial lifeline to WM Motor amid sluggish sales, recalls, and cash shortages, potentially enabling a back-door listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Apollo planned to raise additional funds through share sales, allocating proceeds to repay WM Motor's interim financing and support development. WM Motor had previously held a nearly 23.7% stake in Apollo and shared board connections via founder Freeman Shen. The transaction required regulatory approvals and was targeted for completion within three months but was ultimately cancelled by WM Motor Global Investment Limited on September 8, 2023.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Jan 2023 | Strategic M&A | $2B |
WM Motor Valuation
WM Motor is currently valued at $889M, based on its Series B in December 2017.
The $152M round was led by Baidu Capital and Tencent, with participation from SIG China (SIG Asia Investments) and Ameba Capital.
WM Motor valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 2017 | Series B | $889M |
WM Motor Funding History
WM Motor has raised a total of $3.5B across 6 funding rounds.
WM Motor's first fundraising round was a $1B Series A in August 2016. The most recent completed round was a $152M Series D in November 2021.
WM Motor funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2021 | Series D | Agile Gr Hldgs (lead) | $152M | - | WM Motor, a Shanghai-based Chinese electric vehicle maker, secured $152 million in its Series D-III funding round on December 1, 2021, led by Agile Group Holdings with undisclosed co-investors. This brought the total raised in its D Series to $457 million, including a prior D1 round of $305 million in October 2021. Agile's subsidiary exchanged 794 million shares in Apollo Future Mobility Group worth HKD540 million ($69.4 million) for a 1.45% stake, increasing Agile's total equity in WM Motor to 4.58% post-transaction. The companies agreed to collaborate on branding, sales, services, charging facilities, financing, and after-market services. WM Motor offered two SUV models, EX5 and W6, plus sedan M7. Vehicle sales rose 66.6% year-over-year to 5,027 units in October 2021, with January-November 2021 cumulative sales nearly doubling year-over-year to 39,095 units. By June 2022, Agile reported holding approximately 6.46% equity in WM Motor, which had filed for a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing. WM Motor raised a total of $6.573 billion across 13 funding rounds, with its latest being a $600 million Series E in June 2022. The company later entered bankruptcy/admin proceedings on October 10, 2023. Agile leveraged synergies with its real estate and property management businesses reaching three million households in 199 cities to support WM Motor's expansion in China's EV market through online-to-offline strategies and sales networks. |
| Oct 2021 | Series D | PCCW (lead); Shun Tak Holdings (lead); GF Xinde Investment Management | $305M | - | WM Motor, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, was one of the 'big four' NEV startups alongside Nio, Xpeng, and Li Auto. The company was founded nearly a decade ago and by 2021 had completed multiple funding rounds totaling approximately $5.6 billion across 12 rounds. In 2021, WM Motor underwent several Series D tranches, with the Series D-II round on October 5, 2021 raising over $300 million led by Hong Kong telecoms giant PCCW and conglomerate Shun Tak Holdings, joined by investors including Agile Group. The Series D financing overall was notably the largest single funding round by a Chinese NEV maker at that time, raising 10 billion yuan. However, the company faced severe financial challenges. Financial disclosures from WM Motor's 2022 Hong Kong IPO prospectus revealed cumulative losses exceeding $2.4 billion between 2019 and 2021, with annual losses roughly doubling from 4.15 billion yuan in 2019 to 8.21 billion yuan in 2021 alone. The company ultimately failed to complete its IPO after filing in June 2022, citing disappointing vehicle shipment figures and company-wide pay cuts. WM Motor subsequently agreed to a reverse merger with Hong Kong-listed Apollo Future Mobility in early 2023, with the combined entity valued at $2 billion—representing a 56% decline from its last funding round valuation. |
| Sep 2020 | Series D | SAIC Motor (lead); Guangzhou Finance Holdings; Hongta Group; Yingke Capital; Tencent; Baidu; Susquehanna International Group; Xueda(Xiamen)Education; Sino IC Leasing; Yangtze River Industry Fund; China Coal Xinji Energy | $1.5B | - | WM Motor is a Shanghai-based electric vehicle manufacturer founded in 2015 that launched its flagship EX5 SUV in late 2018 and followed with the EX6 Plus in Q4 2019. The company had delivered over 30,000 units of the EX5 by the time of this funding round and operated a factory in Wenzhou, Zhejiang with 100,000 units annual capacity, plus a second factory in Huanggang, Hubei that had just completed construction. WM Motor closed a Series D round of RMB 10 billion (approximately $1.5 billion) in September 2020 led by Shanghai government-controlled investment vehicles and SAIC Motor, making it the largest funding round closed by a Chinese EV startup at that time. The round also included participation from existing investors Baidu and SIG Asia Investments, as well as regional government-backed funds including those from Hubei, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces. The company stated it would use the capital for R&D of vehicle intelligence technologies, brand building, digital marketing, and expansion of sales channels including 1,000 new retail locations nationwide, with plans to pursue an IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market. The company did not disclose an updated valuation in connection with this round, though its prior Series C in March 2019 had valued WM Motor at $5 billion. |
| Mar 2019 | Series C | Baidu (lead); Taihang Industrial Fund; Linear Venture | $447M | - | WM Motor (also known as Weltmeister Motor), a Chinese electric vehicle startup founded in 2015, completed its Series C funding round on March 8, 2019, raising CNY 3 billion (approximately USD 446-447 million or 400 million euros), led by Baidu with participation from Linear Venture and Taihang Industrial Fund. The funds were primarily allocated to R&D, technology upgrades, product development, intelligent manufacturing, customer experience platforms, and expansion of new retail channels. This brought the company's total funding to nearly RMB 23 billion across all rounds, following a prior raise of USD 288 million in October 2018 also led by Baidu with Tencent, Sequoia Capital China, and China Chengtong Fund. In early 2019, WM Motor demonstrated strong initial traction, delivering 2,005 EX5 battery-electric SUVs in January to lead the NEV industry that month. By end-February, it signed contracts with 50 distribution partners across major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, with EX5 vehicles ready for delivery in 21 cities. The company aimed for 100 partners by year-end and had established 7 WM Spaces (experience centers), 20 WM Stores (sales and service centers), and 15 WM Stations. Partnerships included a three-year deal with BorgWarner for electric drive technologies and a new joint Intelligent Vehicle Research Center with Baidu focused on intelligent cockpits. WM Motor positioned itself among China's emerging EV leaders, competing in a crowded market later known as part of the 'big four' alongside Nio, Xpeng, and Li Auto. It planned a diversified product line including mass production of advanced tech models and launched initiatives like improved auto financing. Subsequent developments saw a Series D in late 2021 raising around USD 457 million from investors including Agile Group and others, pushing total funding past USD 4 billion, though the company faced challenges with cumulative losses exceeding USD 2.4 billion from 2019-2021 and withdrew a 2022 Hong Kong IPO filing before a 2023 reverse merger valuing it at USD 2 billion—a decline from prior rounds. |
| Dec 2017 | Series B | Baidu Capital (lead); Tencent (lead); SIG China (SIG Asia Investments); Ameba Capital | $152M | $889M | WM Motor is a China-based electric vehicle startup backed by major investors including Baidu Capital and Tencent. In a financing round around 2017, Baidu and Tencent competed to lead a planned 1 billion yuan raise, with Baidu noted as a lead and Tencent striving to join. Later rounds included a Series C of CNY 3 billion (USD 446.37 million) led by Baidu in 2019 and a Series D of RMB 10 billion (USD 1.47 billion) with Baidu, China Minmetals, and Tencent. Cumulative financing exceeded 41 billion yuan by 2019, positioning WM Motor as a leading new energy vehicle startup with annual sales ranking second among peers that year. |
| Aug 2016 | Series A | Huirong Deyun Investment | $1B | - | WM Motor (also known as Weltmeister) is a Chinese electric vehicle startup founded around 2015-2016, which launched its first production plant in Wenzhou in November 2016 and later expanded facilities. The company completed multiple financing rounds totaling 35 billion yuan but faced financial difficulties, filing for pre-restructuring bankruptcy in October 2023 due to debt, losses, and market challenges including COVID-19 impacts. |
Who has invested in WM Motor?
21 investors have backed WM Motor across its funding rounds, including Tencent, Baidu, SIG China (SIG Asia Investments), Susquehanna International Group, GF Xinde Investment Management and Linear Venture.
Lead investors include Agile Gr Hldgs, PCCW, Shun Tak Holdings, SAIC Motor, Baidu and 2 other investors.
WM Motor Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Lead | Dec 2017 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Mar 2019 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Aug 2016 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Dec 2017 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Mar 2019 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Oct 2021 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Sep 2020 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Mar 2019 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 | ||
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Start Free TrialInvestments by WM Motor
WM Motor has invested in 2 companies to date.
Latest investment by WM Motor was on April 13th 2018. WM Motor invested in Hello TransTech in their $700M Series E round.
Latest Investments by WM Motor
| Description | - | - | DEEPROVE is a Beijing-based provider of AI-driven game evaluation tools and intelligent services featuring Yimian, a platform for speech analysis, semantic comprehension, computer vision, and AI-generated avatars. The company supports game testing across genres with capabilities in real-time interaction assessment and quality assurance. Its products extend to foreign markets, enabling developers to streamline evaluation processes through automated anomaly detection and performance metrics. |
| HQ Country | |||
| HQ City | - | - | Shanghai |
| Deal Date | 13 Apr 2018 | 27 Dec 2017 | 1 Aug 2017 |
| Round | Series E | Series D | Seed |
| Raised | $700M | $152M | $300K |
| Investors | Ant Group; Fosun International | Ant Group; Fujitec Co; Chengwei Capital; Fosun International; GGV Capital | - |
| Valuation | $5B | $349M | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | |||
| EV/EBITDA | |||
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WM Motor Competitors
WM Motor competitors include listed companies like Voyah and Einride, and private ones like Jidu Auto, Rimac Group, BYTON and Zhizi Automobile.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | - | - | $2B | - | ||
| Private | $385M | - | $2.3B | 6.0x | ||
| Private | - | - | $2.5B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $3.3B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $5.2B | $562M | $883M | 0.1x | ||
| Publicly listed | $47M | ($93M) | $570M | - |
WM Motor Public Comps
WM Motor is no longer listed, but its public comps include NFI Group, Blue Bird Corp., Fastned, WeRide, Ola Electric, Lucid, Sanlorenzo, Eos Energy Enterprises, Amprius and Harley-Davidson.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $3.6B | $96M | 0.9x | 0.8x | 32.7x | 8.1x | |||
| $1.5B | $186M | 1.3x | 1.1x | 10.3x | 7.9x | |||
| $160M | $17M | 14.5x | 11.1x | 140.0x | 60.5x | |||
| $102M | ($257M) | 11.4x | 8.3x | (4.5x) | (5.0x) | |||
| $215M | ($97M) | 8.8x | 7.9x | (19.5x) | (21.4x) | |||
| $1.4B | ($2.3B) | 5.5x | 4.7x | (3.2x) | (2.6x) | |||
| $1.3B | $211M | 1.1x | 1.2x | 7.0x | 6.9x | |||
| $114M | ($930M) | 21.8x | 9.9x | (2.7x) | (9.5x) | |||
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Common questions about WM Motor
| When was WM Motor founded? | WM Motor was founded in 2015. |
| Where is WM Motor headquartered? | WM Motor is headquartered in Shanghai, China. |
| Is WM Motor publicly listed? | No, WM Motor was acquired by Apollo Future Mobility in January 2023. |
| Who acquired WM Motor? | WM Motor was acquired by Apollo Future Mobility in January 2023. |
| How much was WM Motor acquired for? | WM Motor was acquired for $2B in January 2023. |
| What is WM Motor's valuation? | WM Motor was last valued at $889M in its Series B in December 2017. |
| How much funding has WM Motor raised? | WM Motor has raised $3.5B across 6 funding rounds. |
| What was WM Motor's last funding round? | WM Motor's last funding round was a $152M Series D in November 2021, led by Agile Gr Hldgs. |
| Who are WM Motor's investors? | WM Motor's investors include Tencent, Baidu, Guangzhou Finance Holdings, Hongta Group, Huirong Deyun Investment, Yingke Capital, Baidu Capital, Taihang Industrial Fund, Shun Tak Holdings, SAIC Motor and 11 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to WM Motor? | Companies comparable to WM Motor include Jidu Auto, Rimac Group, BYTON, Zhizi Automobile, Voyah and Einride. |
| How many companies has WM Motor invested in? | WM Motor has invested in 2 companies, including Hello TransTech and DEEPROVE. |
| What was WM Motor's last investment? | In April 2018, WM Motor invested in Hello TransTech's $700M Series E alongside Ant Group and Fosun International. |
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