Shanghai-headquartered WeView, which produces flow batteries for grid-level energy storage, has snagged 600 million yuan ($87.1 million) in a Series A round led by two state-affiliated investors.
SDIC, an investment arm of state-owned China SDIC Gaoxin Industrial Investment, and Zhuhai Da Heng Qin Group, a state-backed firm set up to support the infrastructure development of Hengqin, a city in the Guangdong Province, led the deal.
Gaorong Capital, a Chinese venture capital firm that focuses on early- and growth-stage investments, also re-upped in the round.
Founded in 2018, WeView specialises in the manufacturing of zinc-iron flow batteries, which is one of the most promising solutions for electrochemical energy storage. It is characterised by low cost, high voltage, and potential for large-scale energy storage.
With the fresh capital, the firm plans to beef up the manufacturing capacities of the zinc-iron flow battery to lower the production cost, the firm said in the release.
The firm announced in September 2022 that it had notched over 4 billion yuan ($56.8 million) after completing “several funding rounds”, counting Gaorong Capital, Green Pine Capital Partners (GPCP) and ZhenFund as its investors, according to a company announcement.
Currently, WeView has two manufacturing hubs, located in the city of Yancheng in eastern Jiangsu province, and the city of Zhuhai in southern Guangdong province, as well as a demonstration site located in the country’s southeast province Jiangxi, according to its website.
As the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, China has set a target to become carbon neutral before 2060. The move has prompted companies across the renewable energy, waste recycling, and energy management sectors to jump on the cleantech bandwagon.
The Greater China region saw the completion of 40 deals in the energy storage sector worth $1.1 billion in Q4 2022. Although the total deal value dropped by 8.3% compared to $1.2 billion in the same period in 2021, the deal count jumped by 263.6% during the said period, according to Dealstreetasia’s proprietary research.
