Amnon Shashua Credit mobileye
Amnon Shashua, the Israeli entrepreneur behind huge successes like Mobileye, took part in a $750 million pre-IPO Series A financing round closed by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Zeekr. Zeeker is now its own firm as its parent company, Geely Holding Group (ZGH), has spun it off. The round of funding gives Zeeker a $13 billion valuation. Shashua was one of just five investors.
Zeekr said that it will use the funds to accelerate global development of its propriety technologies whilst also aiming to expand its global market footprint by entering the European market in 2023.
Founded in 1986, ZGH is a global automotive group that consists of several well-known international brands including Geely Auto, Zeekr, LYNK & CO, Geometry, Volvo Car, Polestar, London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC), PROTON, Lotus, and Terrafugia.
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The Group operates 40 manufacturing and assembly plants, 9 R&D centers, and 9 design centers across North America, Europe, China, and South East Asia employing over 120,000 people.
Zeekr was established on April 15th, 2021 as a global luxury EV brand with R&D capacity in Gothenburg, Sweden and Hangzhou, China. Zeekr began deliveries of its flagship Zeekr 001 in October 2021, delivering over 80,000 units to date. In January 2023, Zeekr started shipment of its Zeekr 009 full-size EV MPV to users.
Daniel Donghui Li, CEO of Geely Holding Group said: “The Series-A fundraising is a vote of confidence in the growth prospects and strong future of Zeekr, which becomes the latest brand in the Geely Holding portfolio to secure a strong valuation. Geely Holding will continue to explore ways to unlock value across our portfolio as we pioneer new services and mobility solutions to meet customer demand across the world.”
Amnon Shashua is an Israeli success story. He founded Mobileye and saw it through that company’s acquisition by Intel. Shashua still serves as Mobileye CEO and President while also as a senior vice president at Intel. The 63 year old is also is a computer science professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
