Gwangju Innovation Center Incubated Company 'J-CAR' Successfully Secures Series B Investment

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Gwangju Creative Economy Innovation Center (Center Director Ha Sang-yong) announced on the 26th that J-CAR Co., Ltd. (CEO Kang Oh-soon), an incubated company of the Gwangju Innovation Center, has successfully completed an investment attraction of 5.8 billion KRW.

J-CAR, the only domestic hydrogen electric vehicle and electric vehicle car-sharing platform operator, raised 4 billion KRW in Series A investment from Hyundai Motor Company, KDB Industrial Bank, and others, followed by Series B investments from Kia Corporation, Halla Holdings Co., Magna Investment Co., and Hyundai Technology Investment Co., bringing the total investment raised since its establishment to 10.8 billion KRW.

J-CAR was founded in 2016 at the Gwangju Creative Economy Innovation Center with a car-sharing service item utilizing only electric vehicles and hydrogen electric vehicles. Currently, it operates services with about 200 vehicles in Gwangju, Seoul, and Changwon, and was the first in Korea to introduce hydrogen electric vehicles such as the ‘Nexo’ and ‘Tucson IX FCEV’ into car-sharing services.

In addition to electric vehicles like the ‘Kona Electric’ and ‘Niro EV,’ it recently added Hyundai’s first dedicated platform electric vehicle ‘Ioniq 5’ and Kia’s ‘EV6,’ operating all vehicles from Hyundai and Kia. Furthermore, through a service called “Weeble Biz” with Kia, it is leading the creation of an eco-friendly mobility ecosystem in the public and corporate (B2B) sectors and striving to provide customers with innovative mobility experiences.

CEO Kang Oh-soon stated, “Through this Series B investment, we plan to accelerate the introduction of third-generation electric vehicles, aiming to operate about 1,000 vehicles by 2023 and expand service areas to Busan, Ulsan, and the Gyeongnam region, including the metropolitan area.”

He added, “Along with improving service quality and overall operational sophistication, we will launch new products such as electric vehicle-exclusive subscription services and car camping products utilizing V2L (Vehicle To Load) functions, as well as expand business into big data utilization of battery data and the eco-friendly vehicle aftermarket. We aim to achieve the number one market share in the eco-friendly car-sharing market.”

Ha Sang-yong, Center Director of the Gwangju Innovation Center, said, “J-CAR actively participated in various investment attraction programs such as the Gwangju Innovation Center’s Fun Fund investment attraction IR from the early stages of its startup.” He added, “The center will continue to actively support excellent local startups to successfully attract investments.”