V Fund backs China treasury management software player
V Fund Management, a Beijing-based PE firm founded by a group of former Goldman Sachs bankers, has led a Series C round amounting to hundreds of millions of renminbi for Sikulifang, a local software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider specialising in treasury management.
China Capital Management, Guiyang Venture Capital, Pegasus Capital – formerly a strategic investment fund under classifieds platform 58.com – also took part, while existing investor Albatross Venture re-upped.
Sikulifang has closed one institutional funding round per year for the last five years, stretching back to when the company was founded, according to a statement. In addition to Xintian Venture Capital, it has been backed by Matrix Partners, Yonghua Capital, Seashell Capital, and AA Investment.
AVCJ Research has records of three prior rounds. The first two – of undisclosed size – came in 2017 and 2019 and were provided by AA Investment and Albatross and Seashell, respectively. In 2021, Sikulifang raised over CNY 100m (USD 14.5m) across Series A and B rounds from Matrix and Yonghua.
The company describes itself as a treasury management consulting and information services provider focused on digital transformation. It helps clients localise their treasury operations and introduce new management capabilities with a view to creating lean processes. Services cover bank account management, payments and settlements, budgeting, and analytics.
The statement highlighted several directives issued by the State-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission (SASAC) requiring state-backed companies to implement robust treasury management systems and then digitise them. This has translated into increased demand for Sikulifang’s services from customers of all types.
The company takes a Lego-style approach to product development, creating a range of modules that can be pieced together in different ways, effectively delivering customised solutions through standardised products. This analogy has been used by other vertical specialists within SaaS, including logistics and supply chain-focused 1Data, which recently closed a CNY 200m Series B.
Sikulifang has worked with more than 1,000 companies across 35 industries to date, helping clients manage aggregate funds in excess of CNY 20trn. The company has dual headquarters in Beijing and Shenzhen, plus R&D centres in each of those cities as well as in Wuhan.
The Series C proceeds will go towards product development, marketing, and improving the customer experience.
“[Sikulifang] firmly grasps the pulse of the financial system and cloud computing development and has taken the lead in launching cloud-native treasury products that adapt to the new IT architecture,” said Xing Li, a founding partner at V Fund.
“These products not only reduce treasury management costs for large enterprises but also expand the functional boundaries of treasury management, achieving full industry coverage, and opening up capital flows within industrial value chains.”
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.