China's Uber-type service for trucks Guiyang Huochebang Technology Co Ltd, also known as Truck Alliance, said on Thursday that it had raised $115 million in series B-1 funding, and expects to complete additional financing soon.
International Finance Corp and All-Stars Investment Ltd led the financing, and several new heavyweight institutions and existing investors also jumped on the bandwagon this time, according to the company, which is based in Guizhou province.
This was the largest ever round of funding so far among online long-haul logistics platform investments.
CEO Dai Wenjian said: "The funding will be used to enhance the platform of Truck Alliance and expand our truck service business."
"We will improve our algorithm to build up a more accurate matching system between truckers and shippers. We will expand the use of truck electronic toll collection cards to more clients."
So far, the company works with 2.3 million truckers and 350,000 shippers, and has about 1,000 service centers in more than 360 cities nationwide. It handles as much as 100,000 orders daily and processes up to $120 million in shipping fees every day.
Mou Xiaomin, senior investment officer at International Finance Corp, said: "Logistics is a highly complex industry. We believe that the online platform of Truck Alliance can help make the industry more efficient and environmentally friendly by substantially reducing a truck's empty miles and the waiting time between loads."
Li Zhaohui, investment manager at Tencent Holdings Ltd, the largest shareholder in Truck Alliance, said: "As one of the early-stage investors, Tencent attaches great importance to the integration of the logistics industry and the mobile internet."
In the trucking business, mutual trust between drivers and shippers is regarded as one of the key factors in driving its healthy development.
To cope with the challenge, Truck Alliance signed an agreement with the National Development and Reform Commission on building up a credit system in road freight transport in late November.
Under the agreement, Truck Alliance is expected to keep track of users' online transaction information.
Bloomberg contributed to this story.
(China Daily 12/23/2016 page13)
