Lalamove provides last-mile logistic services through its app.

Lalamove, the logistics major which offers services around the globe, announced Tuesday its Series E round raise of $515 million. Sequoia Capital China led the round which received participation from existing investors including Hillhouse Capital and Shunwei Capital. (TECHINASIA)

Its operations range from Hong Kong and China to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines. As of November 2020, Lalamove had 480,000 monthly active drivers and 7.2 million monthly active users on its logistics platform. In mainland China, it serves 352 cities. In the US, it commenced operations in October in Dallas, Texas.

Bloomberg said last week that Lalamove intended to raise $ 500 million in a new funding round at a valuation of $ 8 billion.

Use of funds

The company will use the funds from the current round to expand its network to cover more and smaller (fourth-and fifth-tier) Chinese cities.

In aggregate, to date, Lalamove has raised about $ 976.5 million, according to TechCrunch.

In February 2019 the company raised $ 300 million in a Series D round that elevated it to the coveted unicorn status.

The company also said it will continue to explore and innovate in the logistics chain, support the in-depth development of multiple business categories, and continue to invest in logistics digital intelligence.

How logistics are becoming smarter

Shen Nanpeng, Global Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital, commented in a statement that the rising use of the Internet, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud services had together accelerated the digitization of logistics.

Lalamove said that the coronavirus pandemic had severely affected the logistics industry and that its business volume fell 93%. However, platform-based and digitally capable Lalamove was resilient enough to ride out the crisis. In fact, orders have rebounded strongly and were up 82% year-on-year even before the Double 11 event.

Manbang Group, China’s leading domestic freight service platform, raised US$1.7 billion in November. Softbank Vision Fund, Sequoia, Permira, and Fidelity led the round. Baillie Gifford and Tencent also participated.

The company mainly uses big data to match cargo with freight vehicles to improve transport efficiency and reduce costs. Manbang is also known as the Chinese Uber for trucks.

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