(Yicai Global) Feb. 25 -- ECARX has raised more than USD200 million in its second round of fundraising, giving the smart car technology developing arm of Chinese vehicle giant Geely Automobile Holdings a value of over USD2 billion.

The Series A+ round was led by state-backed investment company China Reform Holdings Corp., the Hangzhou, eastern Zhejiang province-based company said today.

This is on top of CNY1.3 billion (USD201.5 million) that the company secured in Series A financing last October with search engine giant Baidu and US venture capital firm Susquehanna International Group as principal investors.

The funds will be used to boost research and development in automotive chips, smart cockpits, intelligent driving, high-precision maps as well as Big Data and Internet of Vehicle platforms, the firm said.

ECARX develops the customized smart car system GKUI used in Geely autos and has more than 2.2 million users. Last year it set up a joint venture with the Chinese division of UK-based semiconductor designer ARM to make chips for intelligent cockpits.

Set up in 2016, ECARX employs over 1,700 people and has branches in Hangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Dalian as well as Gothenburg in Sweden.

Editor: Kim Taylor