The Chinese Uber for vehicles Manbang introduced Tuesday that it has raised $1.7 billion in its contemporary investment spherical, years after it hauled in $1.Nine billion from buyers inclusive of SoftBank Group and Alphabet Inc. ‘s challenge capital fund CapitalG.
The information came sparkling off a Wall Street Journal report weeks in the beyond that Manbang modified into looking for $1 billion beforehand of an preliminary public offering next year. The employer declined to touch upon the problem, although its CEO Zhang Hui said in May 2019 that the corporation became “now not in a hurry” to move public.
Manbang stated it carried out profitability this year. Its valuation became reportedly on path to obtain $10 billion in 2018.
The organisation, which runs an app matching truck drivers and traders transporting cargo and gives monetary offerings to truckers, was formed from a merger amongst competition Yunmanman and Huochebang in 2017. It ended even as China’s “sharing financial device” craze commenced to look consolidation and shakeup.
The modern financing over again attracted immoderate-profile backers, together with returning customers SoftBank Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital China, Permira and Fidelity, a consortium that co-led the round. Other members had been Hillhouse Capital, GGV Capital, Lightspeed China Partners, Tencent, Jack Ma’s YF Capital and greater.
The agency has different Alibaba ties. Its CEO Zhang, who based Yunmanman, hailed from Alibaba’s famed B2B department in which Manbang chairman Wang Gang additionally worked before he went directly to fund trip-hailing massive Didi’s angel round.
Manbang claims its platform has more than 10 million proven drivers and five million cargo proprietors. The present day investment will permit it to further spend money on studies and development, enhance its matching machine and enlarge its company capability to functions like door-to-door transportation.
Sequoia is pretty bullish about truck-hauling because it made its 6th funding in Manbang. For Permira, a European non-public fairness fund, the Manbang investment marked the China debut of its Growth Opportunities Fund.
Related: China’s electric SUV maker Li Auto raises $1.1 billion in US IPO(techrunch)
