Truck Hailing Firm Manbang Raises Over USD 2 Bn, Valued at USD 20 Bn

On June 15, the largest truck-hailing startup in China submitted an updated version of its prospectus to the SEC, showing that the company plans to be listed on the NYSE with the stock ticker 'YMM.' At the same time, cornerstone investors OTPP and Mubadala will carry out private placement, subscribing for a total of USD 200 million equivalent shares of Manbang at the IPO price.

The combined IPO and private placement will raise up to USD 2 billion for a valuation of approximately USD 20 billion. 

Manbang Group was established in November 2017 to provide freight matching and value-added services for the truck industry. According to EqualOcean, the Chinese startup received its previous round of financing in 2018 at a valuation of USD 6 million, backed by an all-star team of backers, including Softbank’s Vision Fund, Alphabet, Sequoia Capital China, Tencent Holdings and GGV Capital. 

According to the prospectus, the truck-hailing juggernaut’s overall business is less affected by the COVID-19 epidemic than others. The operating revenue levels in 2019 and 2020 were CNY 2.47 billion (USD 0.386 billion) and CNY 2.58 billion (USD 0.403 billion) respectively, of which the revenues of its main business freight matching services reached CNY 1.77 billion (USD 0.277 billion) and CNY 1.95 billion (USD 0.305 billion) respectively. The company’s GTV was CNY 173.8 billion (USD 27.16 billion) with 71.7 million orders.

There is a huge demand gap in the road freight market. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's freight volume was 47 billion tons in 2020, where 70% was transported by road. According to the CIC report, the total scale of the road transport market reached CNY 6 trillion (USD 0.94 trillion) in 2020, of which the full-car load and less-than-truck load are the largest market segments, with a market scale of about CNY 5.3 trillion (USD 0.83 trillion). This number is expected to grow to CNY 6.4 trillion (USD 1 trillion) by 2024.