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One of Silicon Valley's best-known female tech executives is shifting industries to join the global race to develop electric cars.

Padmasree Warrior, who until September served as chief technology and strategy officer at Cisco Systems Inc., said she is joining Chinese auto startup NextEV Inc. as its U.S. chief executive officer and head of software development.

Based in Shanghai, NextEV is part of a new crop of Chinese-backed entrants that aim to challenge Tesla Motors Inc. and other manufacturers in the electric vehicle market.

Ms. Warrior, a 55 year-old Indian-born executive who takes part in many tech industry events, said she wanted to try a new field where her 30 years of technology experience would still be relevant. "I wanted to be part of creating something that is bigger and different," she said.

Founded in 2014, NextEV doesn't yet have electric vehicles on the market, but has already developed a single-passenger race car that has competed in the FIA Formula E races for electric vehicles.

NextEV has raised $500 million and hopes to attract total funding of $1 billion, the startup said. Investors include Tencent Holdings Ltd., the Chinese investment management company Hillhouse Capital and a China-based arm of venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital. Other prominent Internet entrepreneurs have also invested, NextEV said.

NextEV was founded by William Li, the chairman and CEO of an automobile-focused Internet content and marketing company Bitauto Holdings Ltd. Its president is Martin Leach, an auto industry veteran who is a former top executive at Ford Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Maserati.

NextEV hopes to develop electric cars that are affordable for consumers, selling initially in China and then branching into other markets, Ms. Warrior said. It hasn't set a timetable for bringing those vehicles to market.

First, though, the company hopes to deliver what it calls a "supercar," a 1,360-horsepower speedster that would compete against high-end sports cars, Ms. Warrior said.

NextEV plans to rely on partners for manufacturing but hasn't selected any yet, Ms. Warrior said.

The company's potential rivals, besides Tesla, include startups such as Faraday Future Inc. and Karma Automotive, which was known as Fisker Automotive before China's Wanxiang Group Corp. bought the company out of bankruptcy.

NextEV has said it has hired 400 employees to date and set up research and design centers in locations that include London, Hong Kong, Munich and San Jose, Calif.

Ms. Warrior, who will be based in the California location, said she would oversee the global development of software for the company's cars as well as some vehicle development.

Ms. Warrior joined Cisco in 2008 and held a variety of positions. In her final job, she was responsible for activities that included mergers and acquisitions, venture investments, and strategic partnerships.

She announced plans to leave Cisco in June, the month after Chuck Robbins was named to succeed long-standing CEO John Chambers. Ms. Warrior said she had considered leaving the company for some time, so she couldn't commit to staying on as part of Mr. Robbins' new management team for a definite period of time. Leaving Cisco "was entirely my decision," she said.

Before Cisco, Ms. Warrior served 23 years at Motorola Inc., holding positions that included chief technology officer. She was recently named to the board of directors of Microsoft Corp. and in 2014 became a director of file-sharing company Box Inc.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 16, 2015 00:35 ET (05:35 GMT)

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