Singapore’s GIC leads $100m series C round for Chinese SaaS startup Huice

Huice, a Chinese software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider for the smart retail sector, announced that it has secured nearly US$100 million in a series C round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.

SoftBank, Legend Capital, and Hillhouse Capital’s venture fund GL Ventures also participated in the round.

Huice CEO and founder Bin Xiao / Photo credit: Huice

Along with the investment, the SaaS startup announced the appointment of Gan Jiawei as group operation consultant. Gan works as partner at Hillhouse Capital and was also the former chief operating officer at Meituan.

Founded in 2012, Huice, formerly known as Wangdiantong, started its business by providing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for ecommerce firms to manage their orders. It later developed and improved its order and warehouse management products.

The Beijing-based startup claims that it serves 670,000 customers, which include Johnson & Johnson, Budweiser, Mengniu Dairy, and the Chinese state-owned COFCO Group, and has over 3,500 employees across the country.

During the Singles’ Day shopping festival, it recorded 232.1 billion yuan (US$35.4 billion) in total transaction volume.

The SaaS firm plans to use the new funds to improve its ERP product and hire talent, said its CEO and founder Bin Xiao. Moving forward, the company also plans to expand its reach across the global market, he added.

The round comes after the startup raised 162 million yuan (US$24.7 million) in a series B round led by Legend Capital in May this year, which followed a 100 million yuan (US$15.2 million) series A round from TPG Capital and SoftBank last year.

Currency converted from Chinese yuan to US dollar: US$1 = 6.55 yuan.