Baidu Capital, the corporate venturing arm of internet company Baidu, has co-led a $156m series B-2 round for China-based logistics platform Huochebang, China Money Network reported yesterday.
The round, co-led by investment firm All-Stars Investment, follows a $115m series B round in December 2016 that reportedly valued Huochebang at about $1bn.
The initial tranche was co-led by All-Stars and the World Bank-owned International Finance Corp, and included internet group Tencent, Genesis Capital and DCM Ventures. Huochebang is now looking to close a third tranche of the round, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Also known as Truck Alliance, Huochebang runs an online platform that links individual truck drivers with freight that needs to be transported, helping improve efficiency in the logistics industry.
Huochebang generates revenue by taking a percentage from the toll cards it sells to participating drivers. The company stated in March this year that it was responsible for an average of $120m of delivery transactions each day.
Baidu Capital managing partner Wu Wenjie said: “Huochebang’s team has a deep understanding of the Chinese logistics market, and has established the largest and the only nationwide dispatch platform.
“At the same time, the company continues to develop and has established a new business model of combining its dispatch platform with an after-sales service platform.”
The series B round comes after Genesis Capital led a $35m round for the company in April 2016 that in turn followed a series A+ round of undisclosed size led by Tencent in August 2015. Huochebang also raised an undisclosed amount in a May 2015 series A round led by Zhongding Capital.
The deal is the second made by the $3bn Baidu Capital fund, after it co-led the $87m round closed by electric vehicle developer Nio in March this year.
News of Baidu Capital’s participation in the round came as its parent company announced that its chief financial officer, Jennifer Li, is stepping down from the post after nine years to take on the CEO role at the unit with a brief to focus on artificial intelligence.
Li said: “With a clear vision and strategy in place, Baidu has a bright future as a leader in the coming AI era. As CEO of Baidu Capital I look forward to applying my broad industry experiences and insights to help bridge Baidu’s technology advantages with a wide range of industries.”
Baidu chief executive Robin Li added: “Bringing AI to real-world applications is crucial in the AI era and I look forward to working with Jennifer in her new role to grow Baidu’s ecosystem.”