Umbrella rental startup Esan receives USD 1.4 million for its angel round
Esan
Founder: Zhao Shuping
Founded in: 2017
Financing status: RMB 10 million (USD 1.4 million) angel financing round in 2017
Umbrella rental startup Esan on Wednesday receives USD 1.4 million for its angel round to place more umbrellas in new cities.
Esan is an umbrella rental startup that places umbrellas in cities for rent. The umbrellas that Esan manufactures have location tracking chips and combination locks. Just like bike rentals, users can use its app to search for umbrellas nearby, and then scan the QR code located on the umbrella handle to rent it. In addition, its smart umbrellas have solar charging panels which can charge location chips in a timely manner.
Founded in 2017 in Shenzhen, it has so far placed more than 20,000 umbrellas for rent across Shenzhen, and has over 80,000 users. Esan requires a guarantee deposit of RMB 19 before users can rent its umbrellas, and charges RMB 0.50 per half-hour rental.
In terms of profit, the company places advertisements on the inner sides of its umbrellas, and encourages users to take its umbrella home to share it with their family members.
This angel financing round was from Siye Venture, and the capital will be used to place more umbrellas in new cities including Beijing, Shanghai and so on. It aims to place 30 million umbrellas for rental across China by 2017.
Power bank rental startup Suichong receives undisclosed angel round in millions of USD
Suichong
Founder: Li Xiawei
Financing status: Angel round amounting to tens of millions in RMB (a few million USD) in 2017
Power bank rental startup Suichong on Wednesday receives its undisclosed angel round in millions of USD to increase its marketing influence.
Suichong is a power bank rental startup that places power rental terminals in cities for users to charge their smartphones easily. Like many power bank rental companies in our previous Tech Financing coverage, Suichong aims to make profit through data collection and revenue from advertisements. It also forms user profiles for further development based on the data it collects from users. Data collection include the amount of time its users rent the power banks for and which locations that users frequently go to.
Unlike other power bank rental startups, Suichong reached partnerships with airline and railway companies to place its power bank rental terminals at airports and railway stations. Users can rent power banks to charge their phones via QR code scanning on the terminals via their WeChat apps.
This angel financing round was from a group of investors including Guanghan, GeekBeans Capital and Tianhong Fund. The company plans to use this fund to secure partnerships with more airline companies and high-speed rail companies.
（Top photo from 58pic.com）
