By CHEN Xiaotong

Shanghai Zafen, an in-car audio system maker based in Shanghai, closed a 10-million-yuan A+ financing round from a venture capital firm owned by Xiaomi, the phone maker that’s trying to break into the EV business.

Zafen was founded in 2019, with senior executives from Harman International, Bosch and Continental. Vehicular audio systems are an important part of any smart cockpit. An EV usually has eight to twelve speakers, amplifiers and acoustic vehicle alerting systems AVAS. 

AVAS is required on electric vehicles in many countries. The system generates a warning sound for near-silent vehicles to pedestrians and cyclists and children. Shengang Securities estimate the market for AVAS in China will reach 10 billion yuan by 2025.

The Xiaomi smart manufacturing equity fund which invested in Zafen was founded in September 2021, with a registered capital of 6.3 billion yuan. It has so far invested in 12 projects, most of them related to EVs. The equity fund recently completed its own round of fundraising that pushed its capital up to around the 10-billion-yuan mark. 

Apart from a smart manufacturing equity fund, Xiaomi controls other three VC platforms that invest heavily in the EV industry.

Earlier this month, LEI Jun, founder and chairman of Xiaomi, said the first model of Xiaomi EV would go into mass production early next year.