Smart logistics robot company Geek+ receives USD 60 million for Series B
Geek+
Founder: Zheng Yong
Founded in: 2015
Financing status: RMB 407 million (USD 60 million) Series B round in 2017
Smart logistics robot company Geek+ on Thursday received USD 60 million for its Series B financing round to boost its global expansion.
Geek+ is a smart logistics robot company that provides one-stop smart logistics robot solutions for its partners and customers. Empowered by artificial intelligence and robot related technologies, Geek+’s business covers smart storage, order picking, material handling and parcel sorting. Its smart logistics robot solutions are now widely applied in commercial purposes including order division and consolidation, smart inventory replenishment and product return.
The Beijing based company has delivered the largest number of logistics robots among its competitors in China. Its customers are mainly from e-commerce platforms, third-party logistics providers, and express delivery companies. At present, it has delivered nearly 1,000 units of robots in warehouses for over 20 of its customers including Tmall, VIPShop and Suning.
This new round of financing was led by Warburg Pincus, with existing investor Volcanics Venture also participating in this round. According to Zheng Yong, founder and CEO of Geek+, the capital will be used to accelerate the upgrading of its logistics robots to cover more applications so that it can acquire more partners and customers. Moreover, it plans to start exploring overseas markets after this financing round.
Bike-sharing startup Mingbikes receives undisclosed Series B in tens of millions of USD
Mingbikes
Founder: Che Yu Ying
Founded in: 2016
Financing status: 2017 Series B round amounting to hundreds of millions of RMB (tens of millions of USD)
Bike-sharing startup Mingbikes on Thursday received an undisclosed Series B financing round in tens of millions of USD for market expansion.
As we have previously reported, bike-sharing giants ofo and Mobike have both secured Series E rounds last month and have conquered the market in China, especially China’s first and second-tier cities. Though these giants have succeeded in securing financing funds and continue to fill the city streets in China and other countries with their bicycles, new competitors continue to join this fierce competition for a finger in this large pie. These startups prefer to narrow their focus and differentiate their business models such as providing physically appealing bicycles for rental and improving rider experience. As for Mingbikes, it focuses on offering bicycle rental services for students.
Mingbikes is a newly founded bike-sharing startup that places its bicycles in school campuses to promote its bicycle rental services. With the help of financing, its services will also expand to other places with high population density such as central business districts and railway stations.
The Hangzhou bike-sharing startup has placed more than 500,000 bikes in China’s first and second-tier cities. Users can rent its bicycles through its app with a deposit of RMB 99. It has also formed partnerships with Suning and some other apps so that users can directly access its bicycle rental services on these apps without downloading its app. In this way, Mingbikes can easily attract users and offer a better experience.
This Series B financing round was led by NewMargin Capital. Mingbikes plans to use this fund to start market expansion plans, as well as place more bikes in new cities.
（Top photo from Geekplus.com.cn）