Briefing: Urban courier Lalamove raises $300 million, joins unicorn rankings

On-demand logistics startup Lalamove raises $300M for Asia growth and becomes a unicorn -TechCrunch

What happened: Chinese on-demand logistics platform Lalamove has secured $300 million in a Series D led by Hillhouse Capital Group and Sequoia Capital China to support further expansion into Southeast Asia and entry to India. This latest round of fund-raising raises the Hong Kong startup to unicorn status. Other investors include new backers Eastern Bell Venture Capital and PV Capital and returning investors Shunwei Capital, Xiang He Capital, and MindWorks Ventures.

Why it’s important: The funding comes at a time when capital shortage in China’s tech world is leading to layoffs and other belt-tightening measures. Lalamove, known as Uber for logistics, provides intra-city delivery services for business and corporate customers. A major player in the vertical, the platform boasts some 28 million users and 3 million drivers as of last month, and operates in more than 100 Chinese cities. The company is expanding beyond its anchor market in mainland China and already does business in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Rival GoGoVan merged in 2017 with 58 Suyun, the logistics arm of Chinese classifieds giant 58.com.

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