China retail SaaS provider Huice secures $100m Series C
Huice, a China-based provider of software for retailers, has raised nearly $100 million in Series C funding led by Singapore’s GIC. GL Ventures, Legend Capital and SoftBank Ventures Asia also participated in the round.
The company - founded in 2012 and previously known as Wangdiantong - raised RMB100 million ($15 million) in a Series A funding round last year from a vehicle backed by SoftBank Ventures Asia. This is followed by a $25 million Series B round led by Legend Capital in 2020.
Huice operates a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for e-commerce enterprise resource planning (ERP). Medium and large-size retailers and consumer brand owners, including Johnson & Johnson, Budweiser, and COFCO Group, account for three-quarters of its approximately 600,000 clients.
The company enables these users to connect with e-commerce websites such as JD.com and Alibaba Group's Taobao and Tmall, among others. It started out offering an ERP system for downstream order management and then expanded into logistics and warehousing, procurement, and after-sale services. Huice's product matrix now covers the full e-commerce lifecycle.
Last year the company started to accelerate its penetration of the small customer market. It is part of a wider initiative that involves developing ERP systems for specific needs, from enterprise to small business e-commerce to cross-border transactions.
The new capital will go towards product upgrades - CEO Bin Xiao stressed the importance of deepening product intelligence to enhance user experience - and recruitment. Recent appointments include Jiawei Gan, formerly COO of Meituan-Dianping, as an operation consultant.
Huice claims to be China's ERP market leader by e-commerce order volume. During this year's November 11 Single's Day shopping festival, it supported a turnover of RMB232.1 billion. The company's ERP system processed up to 164,550 orders per second at peak time. It took as little as five seconds to move from order review to delivery.
The company's revenue has increased 210% year-on-year over the past 12 months, while average monthly new customer numbers are up 150%. It has more than 3,500 employees across 80 branches covering 388 cities and is looking to go international.
"Overseas markets are within our next development plan," said Xiao. He added that Chinese retail SaaS providers have developed competitive products to meet the needs of demanding local customers.
Yong Cheen Choo, CIO of GIC Private Equity, added that the investment fits well into the sovereign wealth fund's strategy of backing leading players in the enterprise software space. "As a global long-term investor, we are attracted to this space in China given the promising growth potential, strong sector tailwind, and trend of market concentration towards top platforms," he said.
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