China's Fruitday adds $15m to Series D round
Fruitday, a Chinese VC-backed e-commerce site dedicated to selling imported fruit, has received RMB100 million ($15 million) in an extended Series D round from an investment fund backed by Shanghai-listed developer Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park.
The extension brings Fruitday's total Series D funding to about $115 million, following a reported $100 million commitment in March. The fresh capital will be used to improve logisitics and supply chain efficiency, the company told a press conference. Fruitday has also removed its variable internet entity (VIE) structure in preparation for an onshore listing.
The company was founded in 2009 by Guozhang Zhao and Wei Wang. The latter's father worked as a fruit wholesaler for 30 years and so he grew up with the industry and brought to the table a strong network of suppliers.
The company imports more than 80% of its fruit from overseas, including the US, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and South Africa. It has built its own warehouses and logistics systems in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, in order to standardize services and keep down costs.
Fruitday has raised several rounds of funding from VC and strategic investors. Shanghai Pudong Venture Capital provided angel funding to the company in 2011, while SIG Asia Investments provided a Series A round in 2013. Last year, the company secured a $10 million round led by ClearVue Partners, while Chinese online retailer JD.com led a $70 million Series C round.
Fresh goods delivery has become a popular vertical for Chinese internet companies as they seek to expand their service coverage. In April, Tencent-backed online grocery retailer Miss Fresh raised RMB230 million in an extended Series B round. That came one month after when Yiguo, an online fresh-food e-commerce platform backed by Alibaba Group, raised a Series C round from KKR and Alibaba.
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