China digital marketing platform gets $50m Series B

The company was founded in 2017 by Shengxun Ye, who previously worked for Facebook where he was responsible for the world's largest machine learning data pipeline. CTO Shukun Xie is another Facebook alumnus, while other senior team members came from MiningLamp, JD.com, and Xiaomi, according to a statement.

Whale’s flagship product is Whale Marketing Cloud, which collects information from online and offline sources and - using big data analysis, artificial intelligence, and the internet-of-things - converts it into marketing insights that feed digitalization tools.

The software suite synchronizes operations across marketing automation, in-store digitalization, digital asset management, customer data, and business intelligence. Whale's goal is to provide a real-time closed-loop system that is cloud-native and uses low-code technology, making it easy to operate and deploy at scale.

Electric appliance manufacturer Midea, restaurant chain Xibei, health and beauty retailer Watsons, and Unilever are all customers. The company also serves emerging consumer brands like fashion toy retailer Pop Mart and electric vehicle manufacturer Nio. It claims annual revenue growth of 300% over the last three years.

Whale has crafted a response to China's new data protection legislation, saying it will comply with legal standards across China, the US, and Europe.

Source Code Capital led a Series A for the company in 2020, supported by BAI and Linear Capital. This was followed by an extended round led by Nio Capital. The size of these investments was not disclosed. The latest funding will go towards product upgrades and expansion domestically and overseas.

Silver Oak Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for the Series B.

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• Greater China
• Technology
• Consumer
• Media
• China
• Temasek Holdings
• Nio Capital
• Linear Capital
• Source Code Capital