ClearVue leads round for China smart vending machine business

Citybox’s refrigerator-sized machines sell beverages, fruit, snacks and other produce. Users open machines by scanning a QR code, select their items, and payment is automatically processed via smart phone once the machine door is closed. Vision recognition and other technologies are employed to track usage and prevent theft.

Founded in 2015, the company’s Series A round was led by GGV Capital, Yunqi Partners, Blue Lake Capital, and ZhenFund. The new capital injection will go towards expanding its network of machines from the current 5,000 locations across China. Citybox previously said it expects to have 50,000 machines in operation by the end of 2018.

Supply chain partnerships have been established with the likes of City Shop, a Shanghai supermarket operator, and Fruitday, a ClearVue-backed e-commerce platform dedicated to selling imported fruit. Qiang Wang, Citybox’s founder, used to be chairman of the former and is a co-founder of the latter. Citybox also has a credit-checking partnership with Alibaba-owned Sesame Credit. Customers with poor credit records are for online purchases are unable to use the machines.

“China’s innovative application of technology is revolutionizing the retail experience on many different fronts. We like companies that are data-inspired and technology-enabled, with a whole host of new online-offline shopping models arising around the country,” said Harry Hui, founding managing partner of ClearVue. “Citybox is undoubtedly a pioneer and industry leader in this ‘new retail’ era.”

A host of new retail start-ups – typically offering unmanned vending machines, goods shelves, and small convenience stores – have received VC funding in China. They include Xiaomai, F5 Store, Bingobox, Bianlifeng, and Guoxiaomei. There has also been an element of consolidation, with Shanghai-based Xing Bian Li acquiring 51 Snackbar in October.

ClearVue has also been active in the space, leading a RMB200 million ($30 million) Series B round of funding for I Believe (known as Aibianli in Chinese) earlier this year. The company, operated by Henan Boya Zhidao E-Commerce, has opened more than 1,500 self-operated and franchised convenience stores in China as well as building an online retail business. The company also supplies goods to third-party convenience stores.

ClearVue makes early and growth-stage investments along the themes of modernization, consumer lifestyles, health and wellness, and digital consumption. The firm, which was founded in 2012, closed its second China consumer fund at $362 million in April. Fund I closed at $262 million in 2014.

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

• Topics
• Greater China
• Early-stage
• Consumer
• Technology
• China
• TMT
• ClearVue Partners