All-Stars leads $56m round for China's Huochebang

The extension brings Huochebang's Series B round to $327 million to date, following a $115 million initial round in December 2016 – co-led by All-Stars and International Finance Corporation – and a $156 million round in May, which was led by Baidu Capital. The new capital will be used to improve company's matching platform and after-market services, a statement said. 

Operated by Truck Alliance, Guiyang-headquartered Huochebang connects cargo shippers and truck drivers through its online platform and mobile app, with a view to improving operational efficiency in long-haul logistics. By the end of July, it signed up 4.5 million truck drivers and 880,000 shippers.

The company has also expanded into after-markets services and financial services for truck drivers. This includes the issue of electronic toll collection (ETC) cards and help installing wireless ETC devices in trucks, so customers can pay tolls without stopping their vehicles.

The ETC system generates most of Huochebang's income by charging fees for automatic road toll payment services and top-ups for the ETC cards. Last year, the company sold about one million ETC cards and devices, which recorded RMB20 billion ($3 billion) in transaction value.

The company claims to have forged business partnerships with several leading Chinese enterprises, including China Shenhua Energy Company, China International Marine Containers, Sinochem Group, FAW Group and China National Duty Truck, to work on after-market services and offerings.

It raised approximately $100 million across three tranches of Series A funding. The first tranche, which closed in March 2015, was led by Eastern Bell Venture, while the second was led by Tencent Holdings. Existing backers DCM and Eastern Bell also took part, alongside first-time investor Hillhouse Capital. The third tranche was led by Genesis Capital and raised $35 million in April of 2016.

All-Stars was co-founded by Richard Ji, formerly a managing director and head of Asia of internet investment research at Morgan Stanley. The late-stage investment firm, which currently manages over $1 billion in assets, focuses on investing in category leaders in China's internet and consumer brand markets. Portfolio companies include Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, online home rental platform Tujia and fast fashion e-commerce platform Meilishuo.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Support services
• Technology
• China
• TMT
• Transportation
• Logistics
• Venture