Warburg Pincus ploughs $100m into China’s B2B trading platform Yijiupi

Shanghai, China. Photo by Merlin Kraus on Unsplash

By Ka Kay Lum

March 18, 2019

Global private equity major Warburg Pincus has invested $100 million in Chinese B2B e-commerce platform Yijiupi in an extended Series D round, it said in an announcement last Saturday.

The latest round comes shortly after Yijiupi closed its $200 million Series D round five months ago, which was led by Meituan Dianping and Tencent Holdings. The previous round saw the startup being valued at about $1.1 billion.

According to Warburg Pincus, the fresh capital will be used for market expansion, product and technology development as well as building retail presence.

Founded in 2014, Yijiupi started off as a liquor trading platform which has now diversified to other consumer group categories, covering the upstream and downstream of the e-commerce chain. In 2018, it claims to have achieved over 13 billion yuan of gross merchandise value (GMV) and has distributed more than 8 billion yuan worth of supply chain finance.

On top of that, Yijiupi’s warehouse shipment volume is also the top in the industry, covering more than 130 first and second-tier cities in China.

“In 2019, Yijiupi will achieve new breakthroughs in the industrial chain, while maintaining long-term growth on our platform. Data, cloud, AI-powered financing platform and other new business segments will form the company’s new growth and profitability achievement,” said Yijiupi founder, chairman and CEO Wang Chaocheng.

Warburg Pincus managing director Zhang Lei noted that, at present, the scale of China’s fast-dissolving channel transactions has exceeded one trillion, but it still relies on traditional channels, with long industrial chain and scattered retail terminals, which has great potential for integration.

“We are very optimistic about the development of the internet industry in China. Different vertical industries have large channel differences and participants are separated from each other, but the internet has helped to improve such efficiency in the industrial sector,” he said.

Also read:

Tencent, Meituan Dianping lead $200m investment in online liquor retailer Yijiupi

China: Greenwood Asset invests in Yijiupi; VR investment shifting to content

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In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

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  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
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