An employee works on electric vehicle battery system at a workshop in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China.Li Jia, the chairman and chief executive of Chinese electric vehicle startup U Power, has joined the world’s billionaire ranks as his Shanghai-based company surged 620% in its debut on the Nasdaq Capital Market, even though regulators had to halt trading more than 20 times due to the stock’s volatility.
In after-hours trading, the stock dropped another 21% to $34, giving Li a net worth of $1.3 billion based on his 73% stake in the company. According to the prospectus, Li owns 38.3 million shares through three British Virgin Islands companies. The company did not respond to an emailed request for comment on Li’s wealth or the stock’s volatility. The entrepreneur first set up U Power in 2013 to provide vehicle sourcing services. After spending years connecting buyers with small- and-medium-sized car dealers in China’s lower-tier cities, Li started in 2020 to shift the company’s focus to battery swapping, according to the prospectus.