Chinese giant Baidu and automaker Geely put almost $400 million more into their electric car venture

January 28, 2022: -Chinese tech company Baidu and auto manufacturer Geely will put money into the electric car venture Jidu that they partnered on just nearly a year ago.

On Wednesday, both companies announced that they are putting about $400 million into Jidu in a Series A financing round. The capital injection comes below a year after Jidu was launched in March 2021 with $300 million in initial capital from undisclosed investors.

According to records accessed through Wind Information, Baidu has the majority ownership of Jidu, with a 55% share of the company. However, Geely has a 45% stake. Both companies declined to share the amount each contributed to the latest funding round.

The money will fund research and development and mass production, according to Jidu.

Global dealmaking in electric vehicles has increased in the previous two years as companies rush to develop cars that analysts expect will soon replace combustion-engine ones. The Chinese government has supported the domestic industry’s growth, which helps spur the increase of many start-ups.

Electric vehicle deals in China tripled in value to $6.61 billion in 2021 from $2.17 billion in 2020, according to Dealogic. The data showed that electric vehicle deals in the U.S. doubled to $924 million in the previous year from $353 million in value in 2020.

In January 2021, Baidu announced that it planned to launch Jidu with Geely as a strategic partner and later named Xia Yiping, co-founder of bike-sharing start-up Mobike, as CEO of the electric car company.

In 2010, China-based Geely acquired Swedish auto brand Volvo, which belonged to Ford Motor.

Geely operates several electric vehicle brands or through joint ventures with Volvo from Zeekr to the high-end Polestar.

In the previous several weeks, Baidu has announced that Jidu plans to reveal a concept car with level 4 autonomous driving capabilities at the auto show in Beijing, set for April.

Jidu’s initial car is set to start mass production and deliveries in 2023, according to Baidu.

Baidu’s venture into electric vehicles is part of CEO Robin Li’s push to diversify the company’s business away from advertising into the latest growth areas, which includes autonomous driving and artificial intelligence.