China's Nio said it had secured additional an US$100m of funding last week, as losses at the upmarket electric vehicle manufacturer continued to mount.
The carmaker had accumulated losses of around US$6bn since it was founded in 2014 with the brand struggling to make an impact in the local electric vehicle market.
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Last year, Nio sold 20,565 electric vehicles in China, bringing its total since production began to 31,913 units.
The new funds will bring some much needed respite for the New York Stock Exchange-listed company, which at the end of December reported a US$352m net loss for the third quarter and net cash of US$274m at the end of September 2019.
Nio said in a statement it had issued convertible notes in private placements to two unnamed private funds, for US$70m and US$30m.
The launch of Tesla vehicle production in Shanghai at the end of last year will come as a major concern for Nio and its shareholders, which include Tencent, Temasek, Baidu, Sequoia and Lenovo.
The company said it was currently working on several other financing projects, with the outcome yet to be confirmed.
The company's financial struggles come at a very inopportune time with sales in the first quarter likely to be affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus in China.
