Ninja Van raised $578 million in funding from investors, including Chinese Alibaba Group, the largest e-commerce company. Alibaba Group, making the logistics startup Singapore’s most recent unicorn.
Alongside Alibaba and its existing customers include are B Capital Group–the venture capital company founded by Facebook cofounders Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly, who was formerly a Bain Capital, and European parcel delivery service Geopost/DPDgroup, as well as Monk’s Hill Ventures and Brunei’s sovereign wealth fund Zamrud were also part of the latest round of funding, Ninja Van said in an interview late on Sunday.
This is the most considerable Ninja Van fundraising since the company’s inception at the beginning of 2014, data provided by Venture Cap Insights showed. When the disease was at its peak pandemic in April of 2020, Ninja Van raised $279 million, with a value of $780 million, according to the figures. The latest round of financing will boost the company’s value to $1 billion in preparation for a first public offering as soon as the next calendar year, Bloomberg said, according to sources with knowledge of the issue. Ninja Van declined to comment regarding the latest valuation.
“The quality of investors joining us in this round of funding is a clear signal that the market concede the emerging opportunities for e-commerce logistics in Southeast Asia and how, as an entrenched player in the region, Ninja-Van is positioned to take a central role in meeting the shifting demands of both businesses and customers,” Lai Chang Wen co-founder and chief executive officer of the Ninja Van Group, said in an announcement.
Ninja van said it would use the funds to expand its infrastructure and technology platform, including the development of micro-supply chain services to assist Southeast Asian businesses in optimizing e-commerce opportunities in the region.
“We strongly believe in the potential of ecommerce in Southeast Asia, in particular, the strength of technology enabled logistics to fuel e-commerce growth,” Kenny Ho, head of investment for Southeast Asia at Alibaba, declared in an announcement. “With Ninja Van’s vast presence and extensive local insights in the region, we are confident that our partnership with Ninja Van would enable us to better serve participants in the e-commerce ecosystem across the region.”
Lai — a Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 alumni–founded Ninja Van seven years ago in Singapore as an express logistics business for last-mile delivery. Since the beginning, it has grown into one of the fastest-growing technology-enabled logistics firms, connecting more than 1.5 million shipping companies with over 100 million recipients in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The company employs more than 61,000 employees and delivery workers who support more than 2 million parcels daily across the region.
