“Flash delivery” service Shansong clinches 50 million USD series C

Shansong Express, a Chinese startup that provides intercity courier services, has announced a $50 million series C  led by SIG Asia Investment and Yi Capital, our sister site TechNode Chinese is reporting. Prometheus Capital, a fund backed by Wang Sicong, the son of Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, also participated.

Founded in 2014, Shansong (闪送, literally “flash delivery” in English) provides short-distance and same-city logistics services.

Chinese consumers are impatient and speed is crucial to good user experience. Shansong pledges a 60-minutes delivery for orders within five kilometers. After that, its 30 minutes for every other 5 kilometers.

But it seems that the platform is working far more efficient than its basic promises. According to company data, the average delivery time for orders within 5 km in Beijing is 23 minutes and orders within 10 km can be delivered in 33 minutes. According to Shansong, only 1% of parcels are later than promised.

Unlike traditional logistics systems which transport packages from station to station, Shansong assigns a single delivery task to one courier who will be responsible for the order in the whole delivery process, shortening the delivery time and eliminating risks of customer information disclosure.

After three years of development, the Beijing-based startup has accumulated over 12 million users and 184,000 couriers. It currently operates in 31 cities in China and has an average of around 100,000 deliveries daily at an average price of 35 RMB per order.

For the overall incomes, the company would take a 20% and another 10% go to the couriers and users as subsidies. The firm claims to have broken even since April last year.

The funding is earmarked for standardizing its services and expanding into more cities.

Previously, Shansong received an undisclosed series A round from CDH Investments, a series B round led by JD Capital, and a series B+ round from Tiantu Capital.