Newlink Group, an online platform that helps drivers connect gas stations and charging piles across China, on Monday announced that it has received a strategic investment of $200 million led by Bain Capital Private Equity.
Existing investor Joy Capital also made a follow-on investment in the round, per a company announcement. China Renaissance facilitated the transaction.
The equity financing will help to accelerate the digitalisation of its energy value chain.
The latest round brings the total corpus bagged by Newlink Group in 2021 to as much as $300 million.
In January this year, Newlink completed a $100-million strategic investment led by China Merchants Bank’s Hong Kong-based arm CMB International with participation from Hongtai Aplus’ sub-fund Guodiao Hongtai Fund, TMT-focused Joy Capital and NIO Capital.
Founded in 2016 in Beijing, Newlink Group promotes energy digitalisation by its innovative digital solutions including targeted online marketing tools, cloud-based SaaS systems and supply chain solutions. It helps gas station and electric vehicle charging station owners drive incremental sales, reduce procurement costs, manage operations and grow profits.
Newlink, through the two flagship apps “Tuanyou” and “Kuaidian”, targets to serve the 400 million drivers in China, leveraging its network of 23,000 gas stations and 700,000 charging piles in 1,700 cities and towns across the country.
“The strategic partnership with Bain Capital is an important step towards realizing Newlink’s ambition to transform the energy industry and build a greener society. Improved efficiency in the energy market will benefit producers, distributors and users from a cost perspective,” said Newlink founder and CEO Zhen Dai, in the statement.
Newlink’s early backers include Xiaomi Corp, Korea Investment Partners China, CICC Capital, SME Development Fund, Sino Pacific Capital, among others.
