Truck-hailing firm Manbang raises $1.7b

Chinese truck-hailing company Manbang Group said on Tuesday that it has raised about $1.7 billion in its latest funding round, as competition in the nation's on-demand freight service industry continued to intensify.

Manbang said in a statement that the company will officially start offering same-city truck-hailing services, after China's largest ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing made an official entry into the niche sector earlier this year.

Manbang, which came into being in 2017 with the merger of China's top two Uber freight-like apps, Truck Alliance and Yunmanman, has been focused on cross-city truck-hailing services, or long-distance transportation services, for several years. The entry into same-city logistics marks a new step for Manbang to grow its presence in the logistics market, analysts said.

Manbang did not disclose its latest valuation, but said in a statement that the new round of financing had investors like Fidelity, SoftBank Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital China.

A clutch of other existing investors such as Hillhouse Capital, GGV Captial and Tencent have also invested in the round. The latest financing round comes two years after it raised $1.9 billion in April, 2018.

The fresh fundraising will be used to bankroll Manbang's innovation in technology, services, and operations, which can advance the company's intelligent logistics systems, facilitate market expansion and enhance delivery-on-arrival services, the company said.

Guo Shanshan, a partner at Sequoia Capital China, said that Manbang has achieved dramatic development in truck-hailing since Sequoia Capital made an early-stage investment in Yunmanman in 2015. Since then it has invested six times in the company as it has strong confidence in Manbang's contributions to the truck-hailing industry, as well as bulk cargo services.

Headquartered in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, Manbang uses big data and artificial intelligence technologies to help drivers find commodities waiting to be shipped without worrying about a potential empty return trip. It also offers services such as cargo management and auto insurance.

Manbang said its platform has over 10 million registered truck drivers and 5 million shippers. Analysts said Manbang has already accumulated sizable users for long-distance on-demand freight services and its entry into same-city truck hailing presents new opportunities but challenges from rivals such as Didi.

Didi unveiled the Uber freight-like service on its app in June, with the service initially available in 10 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province.

Gu Dasong, executive director of transportation and development research center at Southeast University, said Didi's edge lies in the fact it has many offline companies as partners. Didi also has about 550 million registered users on its platform, which in turn can boost demand for services such as home-moving, a typical use scenario for truck-hailing.