Happiness Development Unveils $6.7M Direct Offering for B2B Auto Business

Automotive sales and eCommerce company Happiness Development Group Limited on Friday (March 11) inked a securities purchase agreement with overseas strategic investors for a registered direct placement of about $6.7 million, according to a company press release.

As part of the deal, Happiness Development will sell 19.2 million Class A ordinary shares at 35 cents each. The company will use the gross proceeds from the sale to develop its auto business under the Taochejun brand and to increase working capital for general corporate purposes, the press release says.

Happiness Development Group filed an effective shelf registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-250026) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which was declared effective in November.

“We are glad to announce the second round of financing for Taochejun during the past year,” said Xuezhu Wang, CEO of Happiness Development, in the company press release. “Taochejun has made great achievements in the past year, especially after the last round of financing in June 2021.

“With the contribution from our strategic investors, Taochejun has made exciting progress in the development of various businesses. We are confident that this round of larger financing will not only bring us more resources in the auto industry, but will also further accelerate the development of Taochejun,” he said.

Related: DealerOn Debuts Online Feature for Monthly Car Pay Transparency

DealerOn, which provides digital marketing solutions for car dealers, launched a new website platform called Cosmos earlier this week that’s intended to make it easier for car dealers to showcase monthly payments for visitors to their site.

Cosmos offers an agnostic digital retailing experience called “open retailing.” It was rolled out in beta in late 2020 and is now being introduced in hundreds of dealerships, the company release says.

Car dealers have had to make changes in the current environment, given that there aren’t many used vehicles available, and have been looking at vehicles they don’t know as well and may not have thought about buying before.

To make a profit, these dealers have to be able to identify a car down to the trim level, know its history and know the value for which a bank could approve a loan.