A car startup you’ve never heard of just raised a $1 billion series A

Even in China’s red-hot funding market, US$1 billion funding rounds are pretty rare. They don’t come often, they rarely come as early as series A, and they’re almost always attached to a company that’s widely known, like Didi or Ele.me. So here’s a rather surprising bit of news: last week a relatively unknown startup that hasn’t released a single product reportedly raised a US$1billion series A.

The startup in question is WM Motor, an aspiring Chinese automaker founded by Freeman Shen. Shen is best known for his work at Chinese carmaker Geely and at Volvo, and was reportedly instrumental in Geely’s acquisition of Volvo from Ford back in 2010.

WM Motor itself is also a bit of a mystery.

There’s no doubting Shen’s pedigree in the Chinese auto business, but there are a lot of questions about WM Motor’s billion-dollar funding round. No investor names have been disclosed, which makes confirming the deal impossible. If it’s real, WM’s series A would be the largest series A round ever raised in China, and quite possibly the largest series A round ever raised anywhere. But until the company shares more details or investors in the round name themselves and confirm the numbers, there’s no way to be sure. And of course, it’s not unheard of for Chinese startups to inflate their funding numbers.

WM Motor itself is also a bit of a mystery. The company will make cars and plans to sell at least some of them online, but beyond that it’s hard to tell just what WM is working on. Its website alludes to a car some some AI features that can “think and talk like your close friend,” and other sections suggest its vehicles will be electric and modular. But there are no concept designs, no concrete details, and certainly no photographs.

Perhaps fittingly, the company’s mission (which sounds more like an advertising tagline) is equally vague:

We will change the car that you’re used to, and make change your new habit.

Make no mistake, WM Motor looks like an intriguing company, and with an experienced auto executive like Shen behind the wheel, you’d be foolish not to keep an eye on it. But it may be worth maintaining a healthy skepticism when it comes to the company’s record-breaking series A round. Even in China, some will find the idea that a relatively unknown startup could raise a billion-dollar series A without so much as a product to show off difficult to swallow.