Lalamove Scores $100M Investment From China: Is This Hong Kong’s Next Unicorn?
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
(Forbes by Hannah Leung) – Pulling in close to news of Hong Kong startup GoGoVan’s merger with 58 Suyun – a deal that reportedly makes the combined group worth $1 billion – another Hong Kong-based startup, Lalamove, announced its Series C funding of $100 million, led by mainland's ShunWei Capital. The VC firm is cofounded by Xiaomi’s chief executive Lei Jun.
It’s easy to draw comparisons with GoGoVan, another on-demand delivery startup that calls Hong Kong home. Lalamove was founded in late 2013 by Chow Shing Yuk, a former professional poker player; GoGoVan was started the same year by a trio of young Hong Kong entrepreneurs (featured on Asia's 2016 30 Under 30), now the wunderkinds of the local tech startup scene. Both logistic firms found success by branching out of home base Hong Kong and into Southeast Asia and China, before getting eyed by big mainland China investors.
Lalamove provides delivery services across Asia and says it has around 2 million drivers across 50 cities in mainland China, and six in Southeast Asia. It would be a mistake to think of the startup as simply a personal Uber van delivery service of sorts, for getting furniture delivered on your next move and so forth; Lalamove is a full fledged logistics on-demand service for SMEs.
“Ninety-seven percent of our business is in SMEs. While we still get a decent consumer usage – and we’re happy to serve them – you only move once a year. For us, that payback is a lot more difficult,” says Blake Larson, head of Lalamove’s international division.
