Convenience store startup Xiaomai received USD 18 M for Series A+
Xiaomai
Founded in: 2015
Financing status: RMB 120 million (USD 18 million) for Series A+ financing in 2017
The convenience store startup, Xiaomai, received USD 18 M for Series A+ on September 11 to make convenience stores built like Legos.
Traditional convenience stores are often limited by physical location, space, commercial supporting facilities, and other conditions.The categories and service items that customers can purchase are relatively fixed. Now, there is a startup called Xiaomai that wants to make convenience stores more flexible by building them like Legos so that it can diversify its sales by expanding its convenience stores when there are more customers or reducing store space to save cost.
As we reported in our Tech Financing column previously, Xiaomai is a convenience store startup that mainly launches convenience stores in communities. Each of its convenience stores covers an average area of 20 square meters and looks like a box which can be placed outdoors or indoors and can be dismantled or assembled easily. Its convenience store can be built in four hours and opened to the public in one day.
Recently, Xiaomai released its new convenience store version, which can be modularized, assembled, and transferred flexibly, so that it is no longer limited by existing infrastructure constraints. Based on the characteristics of its new convenience stores, Xiaomai can expand its stores by increasing new modules for products and services according to customers’ demands, as well as big data analysis.
Founded in 2015 in Beijing, Xiaomai’s convenience stores have emerged in some cities in China. It also launched a ‘Partner Entrepreneurship Program’, which helps its partners start their businesses in convenience stores for free. It wants each of its convenience stores to cover a density of 300 families. It is expected to serve 10,000 communities with a total of 30,000 convenience stores in 2020.
This new financing round was led by Junzi Capital. The capital will be used to expand its new business mode to conquer the market quickly, as well as facilitate sales in convenience stores through community investigation and data analysis.
Sequencing service provider Basecare receives USD 14M for Series B
Basecare
Founded in: 2010
Financing status: RMB 100 million (USD 14 million) for Series B financing in 2017
Sequencing service provider, Basecare, received USD 14M for Series B on September 11 to attach its sequencing service to clinical services.
Basecare is a sequencing provider that provide customers with bioinformatic analysis based on big data. It mainly uses its sequencing service to provide better solutions for reproductive health, such as selecting the preferred embryo to avoid chromosomal and genetic diseases based on data analysis.
Founded in 2010 in Suzhou, it received investment from DaAn Gene Co., Ltd. Basecare collaborated with DaAn Gene to develop and register a high-throughput sequencing instrument called “DA8600” and a non-invasive prenatal test kit which was approved in 2016. So far, its sequencing services have been applied in many hospitals and institutions in China to help them deal with reproductive obstacles.
Basecare grabbed this Series B financing round from undisclosed investors. It plans to use the funds to invest in the research and development of new sequencing services, and partner with more hospitals and institutions to promote its reproductive health concept.
(Top photo from Baidu Images.)
