Jia Yueting, 23 billion yuan has been credited to the account.
Jia Yueting has received new financing.
Recently, Faraday Future (FF) announced that it had obtained a new round of financing of $45 million from an institutional investor in the United States. With this sum, the cumulative financing of FF since its establishment has reached approximately $3.21 billion, equivalent to about 23 billion RMB. Less than a month before the financing was finalized, the nearly four - year SEC investigation that had plagued FF officially came to an end, and no enforcement actions were taken against the company or any relevant executives. With the regulatory shadow lifted, mainstream institutional investors are willing to sit down and talk again. This is the moment when FF has come closest to being a "normal company" in recent years.
Since registering the company in Los Angeles in 2014 and vowing to build the world's top - tier electric vehicles, Jia Yueting's twelve - year journey in the automotive industry has been a roller - coaster ride that seems almost too dramatic to be a real business story. The luxury electric vehicle segment he bet on has now been collectively verified by Rolls - Royce, Bentley, and Porsche. The market scale is heading towards $50 billion.
The SEC Storm Finally Comes to an End
Jia Yueting has secured new financing.
Recently, Faraday Future (FF) officially announced that it had received a new round of financing of $45 million from an institutional investor in the United States, equivalent to about 300 million RMB, and the funds have been fully received. According to statistics, with this amount, the cumulative financing of FF since its establishment has reached approximately $3.21 billion, equivalent to about 23 billion RMB. Jia Yueting himself described this financing as "the lowest - cost and most favorable - term deal for the company in recent years."
Although the statement was calm, there was significant weight behind it. A direct prerequisite for this financing to be achieved was that less than a month before the financing was finalized, the nearly four - year investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into FF officially ended, and no substantial enforcement actions were taken against the company or any relevant executives.
This investigation started in 2021 when FF went public through a SPAC merger. There were two core issues in the investigation: First, whether FF made false and misleading statements regarding related - party transaction disclosures and Jia Yueting's actual role in the company during the SPAC merger and listing process; Second, whether there were forged sales records in the first - batch delivery of FF91 announced by FF in 2023. At least three former employees came forward as whistle - blowers, claiming that the first few deliveries announced had not actually completed the real sales process at the time of the announcement.
The situation reached its most critical stage in July 2025. The SEC officially issued a "Wells Notice" to FF and several executives including Jia Yueting, indicating that the SEC's internal staff had initially decided to recommend launching a formal enforcement procedure. A Wells Notice is not an indictment, but it is the clearest early warning signal before an enforcement action. Research data shows that about 85% of the recipients of a Wells Notice will eventually be taken to court by the SEC. Against this background, it was almost impossible for FF to obtain financing from normal institutional investors. No one was willing to bet money on a company that might face formal charges at any time when the regulatory conclusion was still pending.
The structure of this $45 - million financing is completely different. The note has a term of two years, a lock - up period of at least six months, and the conversion price is determined based on the market price at that time rather than the current price. It is not a deal to grab equity. Of course, whether this deal can be finally secured depends on the approval of relevant proposals at the annual general meeting on May 22. However, in any case, with the four - year regulatory shadow just lifted, Jia Yueting's statement that "now we can focus all our energy on strategic implementation" carries significant weight at this time.
Twelve Years in the Automotive Industry
In 2014, Jia Yueting registered Faraday Future in Los Angeles.
At the beginning of its establishment, the company expanded at an extremely fast pace. It recruited more than a thousand employees within a year, bringing together a group of top engineers and designers from BMW, Tesla, and Apple. In 2015, FF announced that it would build a $1 - billion super - factory in Nevada, showing no less ambition than Elon Musk. In January 2017, FF officially launched the FF91 at the CES booth in Las Vegas. It was claimed to have 1050 horsepower and a 0 - 100 km/h acceleration time of 2.27 seconds. An automatic parking demonstration was presented on - site, and the media was in awe. Jia Yueting stood on the stage and said that it was "the world's most advanced mass - produced electric vehicle." At that moment, the outside world really believed that he was going to succeed.
However, the reality off - stage was getting further and further away from the glory on - stage. The Nevada factory came to a halt due to a shortage of funds right after the foundation was laid. FF had to move to an abandoned tire factory in Hanford, California, and start over. Meanwhile, Jia Yueting's LeEco empire in China collapsed, and hundreds of billions of debts chased after him. Courts in Shanghai and Beijing successively froze his assets. In 2017, Jia Yueting flew to the United States on the pretext of "raising funds for the company" and has not returned since. His name began to appear frequently on the "list of defaulters," and the investors who had once been most optimistic about him in China started to pursue debt collection.
The mass production of the FF91 was repeatedly delayed. It was originally promised to be delivered in 2018, then in 2020, and later in 2022. It was not until 2023 that the Hanford factory truly started production. That year, FF announced the delivery of the first batch of FF91s, with a price of $300,000 and a limited production of 300 units.
But the story doesn't end there. At the end of 2024, FF announced the launch of a second brand, Faraday X, targeting a more mass - market segment. Its first product, the FX Super One, is an MPV model priced at about 600,000 RMB, mainly targeting the Middle East market. At the same time, FF began to vigorously promote its EAI robot business. Jia Yueting defined it as the second main line parallel to the automotive business, saying that more than 1000 robots would be shipped this year. Moreover, this business line has already achieved positive gross profit on a single - product basis, making it the first product of FF to turn a positive gross profit since its establishment.
From a certain perspective, this is the first time Jia Yueting has truly become pragmatic. Instead of just telling the big story of "being better than Tesla," he has carved out two relatively implementable business lines. One is to maintain the basic market of the automotive business, and the other is to open up a new channel for generating revenue. It took a full twelve years to transition from the dream of building the world's top - tier electric vehicles to selling MPVs and robots.
The Story of Luxury Electric Vehicles Is Just Beginning
The segment that Jia Yueting entered back then is completely different today.
When FF was established in 2014, the luxury electric vehicle market was almost non - existent. Established luxury car manufacturers such as Bentley, Rolls - Royce, and Porsche were still convincing themselves to stay put, arguing that electrification would dilute brand value. Twelve years later, this judgment has been completely overturned by the entire industry. The Rolls - Royce Spectre was delivered in 2023, becoming the first all - electric vehicle of this century - old brand. Bentley announced that it would launch its first pure - electric SUV in 2026, and its full transition to electrification is scheduled for 2030. The Porsche Taycan has firmly established itself in the high - end electric coupe segment and has become one of the most successful mass - produced examples in this niche market. A bet on a seemingly radical segment ten years ago has now been collectively endorsed by the world's top luxury brands.
The potential of this segment is even greater than most people think. According to forecasts from multiple institutions, the global luxury electric vehicle market size exceeded $20 billion in 2025 and is expected to exceed $50 billion around 2031, with an average annual growth rate of about 15%. The growth comes from two sources. On one hand, traditional luxury brands are accelerating their electrification process, migrating their existing customers from fuel - powered vehicles. On the other hand, emerging affluent markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia are continuously expanding. These consumers are more receptive to electric luxury vehicles than those in mature markets in Europe and the United States. It is worth noting that the ultra - luxury segment, which has the fastest growth rate, specifically the price range above $300,000, has an annual compound growth rate of over 16%. Orders are often sold out two delivery cycles in advance, and the waiting list itself has become part of the brand premium.
Opportunities for emerging brands are also quietly emerging in this context. Lucid is currently the most stable example. With its Air and Gravity models, it has secured a place on the 2026 luxury electric vehicle list and has been continuously expanding in the Middle East market. Lucid's path shows that as long as the technology is solid enough and the target market is accurately defined, new brands have real survival space in this segment. Of course, Lucid has the continuous support of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which also shows that the luxury electric vehicle business requires strong capital endurance. Every stage, from R & D to delivery to building brand trust, is capital - intensive and has a long cycle.
What makes this segment truly interesting is that it redefines the concept of luxury. Traditional luxury cars sell craftsmanship, history, and exclusivity, while luxury electric vehicles add a new dimension, including computing power, connectivity, AI experience, and software ecosystem. A top - tier luxury electric vehicle today needs to be an art piece, a supercomputer, and a mobile private space at the same time. This places much more complex requirements on the entire supply chain, R & D system, and user operation than in the fuel - powered era. However, precisely because of this, once a brand achieves differentiation in this dimension, its moat will be deeper than that of traditional luxury cars, as the user stickiness accumulated through software and data cannot be replicated by simply throwing money at it.
The luxury car revolution driven by electrification is just entering the middle stage. Traditional brands are entering the market with their century - old brand assets, emerging brands are entering with technology and Internet genes, and the new wealthy classes in the Middle East and Asia - Pacific are entering with a new consumption concept. The forces from all sides are converging in this segment. In the next ten years, this will be the most competitive and most anticipated battlefield in the global automotive industry.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Rongzhong Finance” (ID: thecapital), author: Lv Jingzhi, published by 36Kr with authorization.