EV Startup Byton and Marubeni Strike Partnership in Series C Financing

Premium EV manufacturer BYTON and Marubeni Corporation have announced a strategic partnership for Marubeni to become a partner in the Series C financing.

Premium electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYTON and Japan’s Marubeni Corporation have announced a strategic partnership. Marubeni will become a partner in BYTON’s Series C financing. The two companies will also explore opportunities for further cooperation in a range of fields such as e-mobility services, energy solutions and overseas production and distribution.

Dr. Daniel Kirchert, CEO of BYTON, said that “based on our shared vision for smart cars and future mobility, we are pleased to have reached a strategic partnership with the Marubeni Corporation. As a world-leading conglomerate, Marubeni has significant experience and resources in a variety of fields such as renewable energy and automobile sales. We will jointly explore the international market and provide users with future-oriented smart electric vehicles and mobility services.”

The firms’ Series C financing has now entered the final stage, with investors including the FAW Group and the Nanjing Municipal Government’s industrial investment fund. BYTON has concurrently been actively sourcing overseas capital. This cooperation with Marubeni is the second time BYTON has brought in an overseas strategic investor, after signing an agreement in September 2019 with South Korean auto parts maker Myoung Shin Co.

Kazuhiro Kondo, General Manager, Automotive Department, Marubeni Corporation said that “under the current enormous change of automotive industry, this investment and partnership with BYTON is an essential part of our strategies in the automotive business. We are very excited at creating a new mobility world with BYTON’s state-of-the-art technologies.”

Recently, BYTON’s intelligent manufacturing base has also entered trial production, actively positioning for mass production. The firm expects to start series production of its first model, the electric SUV M-Byte, in 2020 and deliver it to the Chinese market before launching it in Europe and North America in 2021.

At the upcoming CES 2020 conference and exhibition, Byton has announced a wide range of partnerships. The company also announced that given the rapidly growing market for energy storage, it plans to develop energy storage systems based on the M-Byte battery technology. These energy storage systems will be manufactured in the Nanjing battery assembly line.

“We have the technology and manufacturing capacity to assemble batteries into safe, efficient and cost-competitive packs. We view this as a major business opportunity with the start of sales of the M-Byte”, said Kirchert.