‘Uber for deliveries’ startup Lalamove grabs $10m funding

CEO and founder Shing Chow. The service is branded EasyVan in Hong Kong, where the startup is based. Photo credit: Lalamove.

The startup with three names – Lalamove, Easyvan, Huolala, depending on which country you’re in – announced a fresh US$10 million in venture capital funding today. It comes nearly nine months after the team trousered the same sum to help grow its “Uber for deliveries” app.

“Most of our customers are still [small and medium-sized enterprises] by numbers but we have been getting considerable usage from large corporations recently as they are seeing the value of having things delivered faster to their clients,” says Lalamove’s CEO and founder Shing Chow to Tech in Asia. Big-name clients include Google and IKEA.

We don’t want to be dependent on outside capital for survival.

“Combine the fact that they no longer have to employ and manage drivers and can use our flexible, on demand capacity that adjusts to their business cycles, they find it a huge advantage to work with us,” he adds, speaking from the company’s Hong Kong headquarters. The service runs in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Taipei, and 15 cities across mainland China.

The startup now has 250 direct employees, backing up a team of 50,000 van drivers and motorbike couriers who are, in the Uber mould, independent contractors.

“Southern China is an enormous market for us, as is Bangkok,” says Shing Chow.

The team got a huge boost in Thailand’s capital earlier this month when the startup was tapped by Line, the popular messaging app, to run its new delivery service, Line Man. It combines takeaway meals, deliveries from local 7-11s, and a courier – all done by green-jacketed guys on scooters.

Line Man is limited to Bangkok. That’s because Thailand is a top market for Line, the company says. Photo credit: Lalamove.

The boss wants Lalamove to expand from 19 to 49 cities by the end of the year as it battles arch-rival Gogovan, which also hails from Hong Kong. Gogovan, which has 150,000 drivers across 13 cities in Asia, secured series C funding earlier this month.

Staying alive

Another goal for this year is a rare one among startups – achieving profitability. “We will be profitable for all cities that opened prior to this year. New cities take a little bit of time to be profitable but we are proving that they have a clear path to actually make that happen,” states Shing Chow.

The startup runs on two or four wheels, depending on the city. Photo credit: Lalamove.