China e-commerce SaaS player Huice raises $312m

CPE also took part in the round, while several existing investors re-upped, including GL Ventures - the venture capital arm of Hillhouse Capital - GIC, and Legend Capital.

Founded in 2012 and previously known as Wangdiantong, Huice has raised $452 million across four rounds since 2019. SoftBank Ventures Asia led a RMB100 million ($15 million) Series A in 2019, with Legend and GIC performing the same role in the Series B and C, respectively. These two rounds, of $25 million and nearly $100 million, both closed in 2020.

Huice started out offering an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for downstream order management. The product was later broadened and split into three customized strands aimed at large companies, small companies, and cross-border e-commerce players. It now offers warehouse management and supply chain solutions to cover the entire e-commerce lifecycle.

Large-scale customer acquisition is up more than 100% year-on-year and this category accounts for three-quarters of Huice's overall customer base. It features the likes of Johnson & Johnson, COFCO, Budweiser, Merck, and 3M. New additions in 2021 include Bloomage Biotech, C&S Paper, Luckin Coffee, Sundiro, and JuneYao. 

Huice's software essentially helps users connect with e-commerce platforms like JD.com and Alibaba Group's Taobao and Tmall. Product functions include automatic order review and artificial intelligence-enabled delivery routing systems that drive supply chain efficiencies, CEO Bin Xiao previously told AVCJ.

For example, a merchant with multiple warehouses normally delivers from the location nearest to the customer. Huice has developed an algorithm that factors inventory levels and delivery costs into this decision, which might lead to an order being routed from another warehouse. The system, which features a manual override option, also assists in warehouse layout and in identifying fraudulent customers.

"Retail SaaS is seeing rapid growth as a result of increased demand for e-commerce and omnichannel commerce,” said Kentaro Matsui, a managing director at SoftBank Group and a former managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, in a statement.

“Since its inception, Huice has become an industry leader through its innovative SaaS and PaaS offerings. We are pleased to partner with Xiao Bin and the Huice team to support their mission of helping e-commerce companies scale across multiple industries.”

SoftBank is a keen investor in China's SaaS space. Vision Fund 2 led a $154 million Series D for Ekuaibao which specializes in corporate reimbursement, as recently as August.

Investarget was the exclusive financial advisor for Huice's Series D.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Technology
• Expansion
• China
• e-commerce
• Softbank
• CPE Capital
• GL Ventures
• GIC Private
• Legend Capital