Lalamove (also known as Huolala in Chinese), a Hong Kong-based truck-hailing platform, announced today that it has completed a series D round funding of USD 300 million.
Hluolala Truck. PHOTO: Credit to iyiou.com
Feb 21st, 2019/EqualOcean/- Lalamove(货拉拉, also known as Huolala in Chinese), a Hong Kong-based truck-hailing platform, announced today that it has completed a series D round funding of USD 300 million. The new round was spilt into two parts, series D1 was led by Hillhouse Capital and D2 by Sequoia China. Its existing investors including Eastern Bell Venture Capital (钟鼎资本), PV Capital and returning investors ShunWei Capital — the firm founded by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun (雷军) — Beijing-based Xiang He Capital (襄禾资本) and MindWorks Ventures followed in the latest deal. Till now, the company has completed six rounds of funding and has officially entered the unicorn club after this round, reported by iyiou.com.
The new money injection will be used in its main business expansion and operation in Mainland China, Southeastern Asia and India. The company will also explore its car sales— for instance, offering driver services, starting with financing packages to help drivers with vehicle purchasing— corporate offerings and other innovative products.
Lalamove CEO and founder Shing Chow (周胜馥) plunged himself in the entrepreneurial wave of 'Internet Plus' and founded the company in 2013. Lalamove provides logistics and delivery services by connecting trucks and cargo in the trucking market. The company is different from DiDi Chuxing (滴滴出行) and Uber because it deal with corporates and businesses rather than customers, also different from Mangbang Group(满帮) for its focus on local deliveries. In 2014, Lalamove grew business in Mainland China and kept operations in Hong Kong.
Corporate offerings of Lalamove serves more than 50,000 enterprises. The company aims to launch specialized or planned services to serve more industry clients. As for car sales, the company has cooperated with drivers to buy new cars, which recorded more than 1,000 units per month. Lalamove aims to expand the service in 25 cities, mainly tier 2 and tier 3 cities in China. Outside China, the company covers 11 cities.
The company claims to have registered 3 million drivers to date and served more than 28 million users across all cities overall. The business has around 4,000 employees.
Lalamove has a long desire for being listed in Hong Kong stock market, according to the company’s head of international Larson told TechCrunch two years ago. After this round of funding, the company is one step closer for IPO, possibly.