Tesla rival XPeng to raise US$1.5bn in New York

Chinese Tesla rival XPeng Inc (NYSE:XPEV) is set to raise US$1.5bn, more than previously expected, in its US IPO. The electric vehicle maker today priced the offering of American Depositary Shares, each representing two Class A shares in the company, priced at US$15 per ADS. Filings earlier this month indicated a pricing range of US$11 to US$13, which would’ve priced XPeng at US$1.1bn. Xpeng is the next of the Chinese EV firms to trail Tesla’s path. It was set-up in 2014 in Guangzhou and backed by notable core investors such as Alibaba entrepreneur Jack Ma, the Qatari sovereign fund, and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi. The group's cars also garnered headlines recently with the news that Canadian tech firm Blackberry, which had fallen into obscurity in the wake of its cell phone obsolescence, is providing an operating system for XPeng's onboard computer. New York listed, Shanghai headquartered rival NIO Inc (NYSE:NIO) has, for example, found favour on Wall Street with the stock rising to around US$20.44 over the two year’s since floating in America in September 2018. XPeng ADS start trading under the code XPEV today ahead of the IPO’s close on August 31.