China smart storage player Hive Box raises $400m
Hive Box, a China-based self-service package drop-off and pick-up operator, has received $400 million in funding from Trustbridge Partners, Asia Forge, Sequoia Capital China, Redview Capital, and All-Stars Investment. The pre-money valuation is $3 billion.
Trustbridge is the largest contributor, putting in $180 million for a 5.21% stake. Asia Forge – which appears to have ties to Asia Investment Capital – committed $135 million. The investment was disclosed by Chinese logistics company SF Express, Hive’s controlling shareholder. SF didn’t take part in the round, resulting in its stake, held through two subsidiaries, being diluted from 48.78% to 42.32%.
The new capital will help Hive expand and deepen its network of self-service units and improve customer service and experience. The company operates more than 150,000 units with bank-level data security across more than 100 cities in China. It claims to process an average of 12 million parcels a day, serving over 200 million customers.
In 2019, Hive posted RMB1.61 billion ($248 million) in operating income and a net loss of RMB781.1 million. For the first nine months of 2020, operating income was RMB1.46 billion and the net loss was RMB845.5 million.
Hive Box was founded in June 2015 by SF Express and several industry peers, including STO Express, ZTO Express, Yunda Express, and GLP. They made an initial investment of RMB500 million. In 2017, CDH Investments led a RMB2.5 billion Series A round that also featured China Development Bank Capital, Eastern Bell Venture Capital and Yiyao Capital. Some existing investors also took part.
AVCJ Research’s records show that Yunda and STO sold a combined 22.56% interest to an SF Express-controlled entity for RMB2 billion in 2018. As a result, SF Express’ interest rose to 48.24%. At the time of the Series A, it was 30%.
SF Express received private equity funding ahead of its IPO in 2017 and the company continues to bring third-party investors into its subsidiaries. Last year, CITIC Capital, CDH and Legend Capital committed $300 million to SF Freight, a subsidiary specializing in less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping, through a convertible note issue.
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