The 'mega-round' of financing put the Shanghai logistics firm on the top of fundraising thus far in 2020.
A man delivering boxes. Image Credit: Thomas Chan/Unsplash
Sequoia-backed logistics service provider ANE logistics (安能物流) has announced the completion of its funding Series F of USD 300 million, led by Beijing private equity firm Centurium Capital (大钲资本).
Headquartered in Shanghai, ANE provides road transportation and delivery services focused on Less Than Truckload (LTT) operators with a franchise model in China. The company has raised a considerable amount of capital in its seven financing events, from well-known investment firms like Sequoia Capital, CDH Investments, The Carlyle Group, and Goldman Sachs. With the latest fundraising, ANE's total funding raised has reached over USD 670 million.
The sole investor, Centurium Capital, is an early-stage investor of Luckin Coffee (LK: Nasdaq), a Chinese challenger to Starbucks. The investment firm claims to have more than USD 3.3 billion under management; recently it led the way in a USD 100 million funding Series D for E-learning SaaS Company Yunxuetang (云学堂).
The logistics market has become one of the fastest-growing sectors in China as a result of the rapid development of e-commerce and the improvement of infrastructure and regulatory environment by the Chinese government.
Moreover, China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative (一带一路) – with its main proposal of connecting China to the world – is expected to bring a significant trade activity among participants, which will drive the demand for logistics services. As part of the project, the Chinese government has announced over USD 1 trillion of investments in the various infrastructure projects, including roadways, railways, maritime ports, oil and gas pipelines.
In 2017, the total value of the logistics market in China amounted to approximately CNY 253 trillion (equivalent to USD 37 trillion), an increase of 10 percent from CNY 230 trillion (equivalent to USD 33 trillion) in 2016, according to US statistics firm Statista.