Byton planning to raise Series C funding

Byton, the premium electric vehicle maker, has announced that it will complete its Round C fundraising in mid-2019 with support from multiple investors. In addition, Byton has shared further details on its Nanjing factory construction as well as its sales strategy.

Construction of Byton's Nanjing plant, which started in September 2017, is nearing completion and trial production of the M-Byte SUV will start in the third quarter of 2019. The installation and commissioning of key equipment has already begun in the five major workshops: stamping, paint, welding, battery, and assembly.

The plant is built to industry 4.0 standards using global leading manufacturing equipment and technology. The stamping shop completes one panel every three seconds on average. It will be one of the fastest stamping production lines in China. The welding shop incorporates 335 welding robots supplied by leading manufacturing equipment provider KUKA with an automation rate of 99%.

The paint shop uses cutting-edge painting technologies such as the transverse Eco-Incure oven technology - a first in China. The battery shop will produce and assemble battery packs that are designed independently by Byton. Leading battery maker CATL provides the battery cells and modules, while aluminium maker Constellium supplies the aluminum battery tray.

“Our plant in Nanjing leverages the world's best equipment and production processes, and follows the highest standards in safety and environmentally responsible production, together which allows us to deliver on our promise of quality,” said Dr. Daniel Kirchert, CEO and Co-Founder of Byton. “As we move toward the start of series production of our first car at the end of this year, our dream of reshaping the future mobility will soon become a reality.”

In addition, following the debut of the Byton Place flagship gallery in Shanghai, the second Byton Place is scheduled to open in Chongqing in mid-2019 alongside Byton's first Service Centre. More stores are expected to open in other cities in Q4 2019, followed by key cities in North America and Europe.

The Byton M-Byte is scheduled to debut in Q3 2019. Byton will begin selling China by the end of this year, followed by the US and Europe in 2020.