J&T Express logistics startup is reported to secur $2.5 billion funding or equivalent to 35.6 trillion Rupiah with a valuation of $20 billion (around Rp.285 trillion), an now officially a “decacorn”. This round is part of J&T’s plan to go public on the Hong Kong Exchange in the first quarter of 2022.
Based on Reuters, this round was backed by a number of major investors, including Boyu Capital, Hillhouse Capital Group, and Sequoia Capital China. In addition, Chinese gaming and internet giant Tencent Holdings, as well as SIG China and Susquehanna International Group.
“This fundraising is in line with J&T’s expansion steps into China and Latin America, in addition to the IPO plan on the Hong Kong stock exchange,” some undisclosed sources said.
In a general note, J&T Express plans to raise $1 billion fund ahead of the IPO. In fact, CB Insights reported that J&T had achieved unicorn status with a $7.8 billion valuation in April.
The source revealed that J&T appointed Bank of America (BAC.N), China International Capital Corp., and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) to help with the IPO plan.
Regarding the news, a number of investors involved declined to comment to Reuters, including Tencent and China’s Sequioa.
Logistics market competition
For the record, J&T Express was founded in 2015 by Jet Lee and Tony Chen, top executives from Oppo mobile phone company, and has expanded its business to a number of countries in Southeast Asia. Aside from Indonesia, J&T is available in Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand.
The founders used their previous experience to build a massive logistics network throughout Southeast Asia which is accelerating thanks to the popularity of e-commerce services.
In 2020, J&T entered the Chinese market and competed with leading rivals in logistics, including S.F. Holding, ZTO Express, as well as the Alibaba backed logistics network, JD.com.
In Indonesia, J&T is in tight competition with a number of logistics startups, including SiCepat and Ninja Xpress, both of which take advantage of the e-commerce trend to accelerate their business. J&T’s CEO, Robin Lo said at the time, logistics services from the e-commerce business contributed 50% to the company’s revenue in 2017.
E-commerce is driving the digital economy in Indonesia, which continues to grow. Based on the e-Conomy SEA 2021 research released by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the e-commerce sector is still driving the digital economy with 52% or $53 billion growth.
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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
