Wedding service platform, Hunliji (婚礼纪), recently raised a new D1 round worth USD 70 million.
The capital raised from the round was jointly invested by Lanxin Asia and Jingwei China. According to the company itself funding was completed before the Chinese New Year but was officially announced today.
Last March, Hunliji (婚礼纪) received a USD 65 million C1 round of financing from Lanxin Asia, Jingwei China, and Fosun Ruizheng. Just two months later in May, it received another C2 round of funding led by another joint venture. The founder of the company, Yu Zhe, said, "The favor of capital is related to the clear business model of the firm and the rapid realization of large-scale profitability."
Just six years after its founding, Hunliji (婚礼纪) has become the leading tech company in the market of the marriage industry. The increasing number of registered users exceeds 50 million, accounting for 80% of the annual national registered population. Hunliji has cooperated with around 200,000 companies covering more than 400 cities and regions across the country.
Increased product and AI technology, empower the industry to a digital upgrade
Talking about product and technology innovations in the past year, every second month Hunliji (婚礼纪) team developed an innovative product project that could solve the business efficiency problem. The founder, Yu Zhe, also reached an agreement with the head of the team to use the first month's revenue for the product project. Moreover, the project partner program is implemented internally, and each employee can independently launch a new product project. As long as it is a valuable innovation, the company will invest capital and manpower to support the promotion.
At the beginning of 2019, Hunliji (婚礼纪) once again defined the role of the company as “a provider of the overall solution for the marriage industry”. Yu Zhe said, “Encouraging the marriage industry to truly realize the national digital upgrade is their focus. It not only meets the needs of users but also continuously solves the problems of the entire industry chain. Reduce costs and improve efficiency, digital innovation can produce more with new technologies and new services, we will gradually establish a more robust credit system to expand the boundaries of industrial services. Next, we will accelerate the research and application of AI technology and big data."
For a vertical market that can generate billions of dollars of consumption per year in China alone, there are still limitless heights for Hunliji (婚礼纪) to reach.
Accelerate new retail layout, 300 Hunliji centers will be opened in 2019
In February 2019, Hunliji (婚礼纪) Hangzhou Xiaoshan store was officially launched, which was the companies 45th store. Yu Zhe said that getting involved in the offline market is not only a part of the overall strategy but more importantly, it is to explore and enhance the professionalism of the overall industry.
Hunliji (婚礼纪) was the first in the industry to introduce the "Marriage Coordinator" position, for the needs of shop users, free one-on-one advisory service, professional skills and professional qualities such as pre-consultation, user tracking, needs analysis, decision-making, etc.
As of now, the average single store in the Hunliji (婚礼纪) can achieve a transaction volume of RMB 40 to 50 million per year, and the newcomer user service satisfaction is 99%, almost zero difference evaluation.
Establish a full matrix integrated marketing system, focusing on brand building and capital investment
“Compared to other platforms or channels, customers will have a much lower cost of weddings", the Hunliji (婚礼纪) team has received such feedback almost every day from the customers.
In 2019, Hunliji (婚礼纪) will deepen the operations to marketing. For the brand recognition of Hunliji (婚礼纪), Yu Zhe said that the slogan of “marriage on Hunliji (婚礼纪) ” not only conveys the functionality of a platform to meet various marriage needs but also establishes a trustworthy brand image.
At present, Hunliji (婚礼纪) has planned to increase professionalism and capital investment in the field of brand marketing such as advertising, social media content and cross-border cooperation.
Hunliji (婚礼纪) team will continue to propose new marketing plans, through the stratification and accurate analysis of user demand data, integrate all kinds of user-accessible channel resources, and establish a full-matrix integrated marketing system that is comprehensive, accurate, and fast enough.
Broaden the vertical and horizontal boundaries of business, start internationalization, and try to invest in the industrial chain
At present, Hunliji (婚礼纪) has fully launched its internationalization strategy. In the field of marriage consumption, Yu Zhe revealed that the fundamental of the internationalization of Hunliji (婚礼纪) is not the so-called “expansion”, but still focus on the needs of industry and users.
Deeply cultivating the upstream and downstream of the marriage industry chain is one of the strategies set since the establishment of Hunliji (婚礼纪). In addition to globalization, Hunliji (婚礼纪) launched the industrial investment fund plan after receiving the C round of financing last year. Yu Zhe said, "At present, we have invested in several projects with considerable potential, trying to accumulate more experience, and welcoming everyone with a good project to contact us"
In Yu Zhe's view, starting a business is a marathon, and choosing the right track is very important. The scale of the marriage industry is huge, and it is very suitable for taking root and studying.