China’s Yimidida raises $266m Series D
Chinese logistics firm Yimidida has raised RMB1.8 billion ($266.1 million) in a Series D round of funding led by Boyu Capital.
Other participants include existing investors Hopu Investment, Source Code Capital, and Hidden Hill, a private equity fund launched last year by Singapore-listed Global Logistic Properties (GLP). The company has raised RMB3 billion across six rounds to date from the likes of China Renaissance K2 Ventures (K2VC), GLP China, Sino-Ocean Capital and CDH China Management, according to AVCJ research.
Yimidida was established in 2015 through the consolidation of four provincial logistics companies. Its crowd-sourced online platform provides on-demand delivery services in 29 provinces in China, specializing in third and fourth-tier cities. The company has a network of 5,000 trucks, 189 transportation centers and 16,000 employees.
In addition to large corporate clients, Yimidida accepts orders from small e-commerce merchandisers with a view to reducing costs by keeping trucks full. Other services include managing payment settlement and order tracking. The fresh capital will be used to expand transportation networks, obtain customers and develop the use of artificial intelligence.
“China’s logistics industry is likely to see a consolidation soon. We are betting on the company to maintain its leading position in the segment due to its high operational efficiency and good quality online platforms,” said Zhiyi Chen, managing director of Boyu.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences estimated that the country's logistics industry was worth RMB280 trillion in 2018, with revenue exceeding RMB9 trillion. Recent activity in this space includes Juma Peisong raising a RMB1.5 billion Series C round led by GLP and Sino-Ocean, and Manbang receiving a $1.9 billion round led by SoftBank Group. In December, fleet management platform G7 raised $320 million in a funding round led by Hopu.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.