Zeekr, a premium electric-vehicle (EV) brand under Chinese carmaker Geely, is raising US$750 million from a clutch of investors including Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) as Zeekr and its peers race to catch up with Tesla in the world’s largest EV market.

In addition to CATL, which is already a backer of Zeekr, investors in the funding round include the Guangzhou municipal government’s investment arm Yuexiu Industrial Fund, Tongshang Fund, Xin’an Intelligent Manufacturing Fund and Amnon Shashua, CEO and founder of Mobileye Global, a provider of autonomous-driving technology that is majority-owned by US chip maker Intel.

Zeekr landed its first external funding totalling US$500 million in August 2021, with investors Intel, CATL, online entertainment firm Bilibili, mining investor Cathay Fortune Corporation and private-equity firm Boyu Capital.

The company launched its first car, the four-door Zeekr 001, in October 2021. The vehicle has a driving range of 700km and is priced at 281,000 yuan– higher than the Shanghai-made Tesla Model 3’s starting price of 229,900 yuan.

Last year, Zeekr delivered 71,941 cars, with over 10,000 units delivered per month in the fourth quarter.

Deliveries of the Zeekr 009, a multipurpose vehicle (MPV), started last month, and later this year Zeekr plans to launch two new models including Zeekr X, a premium urban SUV.

“For EV companies, particularly new ones, financing demand will be quite large this year, as we are seeing more fierce competition and tasks to keep launching new models,” Zhang said.