LeapMotor to launch IPO in Hong Kong

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup LeapMotor last week applied to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as it sought additional funding to increase its exposure to the world's largest EV market. If the initial public share offering (IPO) is successful, it would become the fourth Chinese EV startup to list its shares in Hong Kong following Li Auto, Nio and Xpeng. Reports suggested LeapMotor, established in 2015, wanted to raise the equivalent of US$1bn from the IPO to fund future R&D, expand production capacity and to step up marketing activities. LeapMotor IPO documents showed it sold 43,748…