At a time when venture capital funding is slowing in China, electric vehicles are one of the few sectors that are still generating excitement among investors. For example, Zeekr, the luxury electric vehicle brand of China’s largest private automaker Geely, announced on Monday that investors have pledged to invest $750 million in its Series A funding round. Its post-money valuation soared to $13 billion.

The news comes just two months after Zeekr said it confidentially filed an initial public offering in the United States. At the time, Reuters reported that the electric car maker was seeking more than $1 billion in revenue at a valuation of more than $10 billion. TechCrunch contacted Zeekr regarding its IPO status.

Among the investors who agreed to back Zeekr in its Series A are some heavyweights like Mobileye founder and CEO Amnon Shashua, Chinese battery giant and Tesla Contemporary supplier Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL), state-owned China’s Yuexiu Industrial Fund, Tongshang Fund and Xin’an Intelligent Manufacturing Fund, another Chinese state-owned investment vehicle.

Proceeds from the raise will support Zeekr’s technology research and global expansion. Indeed, the company has aggressively stepped up its international footprint. In January, my colleague Kirsten wrote that the company had some 3,000 vacancies in more than 30 cities around the world, including at its R&D center in Ningbo and Shanghai in China, and in Gothenburg, Sweden. The young automaker was also opening an office in Silicon Valley.

Founded in March 2021, Zeekr landed its first round of external funding in August of the same year. The investment totaled $500 million from a slate of strategic investors, including Intel Capital, Intel’s enterprise VC arm, CATL, Chinese user-generated video site Bilibili, capital fund -Chinese investment Cathay Fortune Group, of which founder Yu Yong’s holding company is a major shareholder. in CATL, and renowned Chinese private equity firm Boyu Capital, an investor in Ant Group.