(Yicai Global) Dec. 9 -- State Power Investment Corporation Hydrogen Energy has secured CNY4.5 billion (USD647.5 million) in its most recent funding round, the largest amount ever raised in a single fundraiser in China’s hydrogen energy sector, the hydrogen energy arm of the Chinese electricity generation giant SPIC said.

There were 11 participants in the Series B round, including the China Development Bank Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund and the National Green Development Fund, the Beijing-based firm said yesterday.

The new financing has boosted SPIC Hydrogen Power’s market valuation to CNY13 billion (USD1.9 billion), it said. The company now has 35 shareholders, the biggest one being State Power Investment with a 35 percent stake.

The firm is also preparing for an initial public offering, Chairman Li Lianrong said at the financing ceremony.

SPIC Hydrogen Energy, which makes hydrogen production gear, fuel cell catalysts, carbon paper and other core parts, plans to build seven new production lines by 2024 with an output value of CNY2 billion (USD287.7 million), and to achieve more than CNY5 billion in revenue by 2025, it said earlier. In October, the company said it will invest CNY980 million (USD141 million) to build a production base in Beijing.

Set up in May 2017, SPIC Hydrogen Energy raised CNY2.1 billion (USD302 million) in two previous funding rounds.

Editor: Kim Taylor