The Value of Full Truck Alliance Increases more than 14% in US IPO Debut
On June 22, Full Truck Alliance, a Chinese digital freight platform, was listed on NYSE with the security code of “YMM”. Its issue price is $19 and its opening price is $22.5. Wind Information shows that as of the close of US stocks, Full Truck Alliance reported US $21.76 per share, increasing 14.53% from its issue price, with a total market value of US $23.6 billion.
The company, based in Guiyang, provides Uber-like services for the road transport industry. As a start-up, it has become the largest inter-city vehicle logistics operator and vehicle-cargo matching platform in the Chinese mainland. Peter Hui Zhang, the CEO of the group, used to work for Chinese Internet giant Alibaba.
The company’s mobile application connects truck drivers with companies that need to transport goods in China. In March, about 1.4 million shippers placed orders on the Full Truck platform. According to its prospectus, about 20% of Chinese heavy and medium truck drivers used the application to complete transportation orders in 2020. CIC reports that China is now the largest road transport market in the world, and the total scale of the market will reach around US $925.84 billion in 2020.
Full Truck Alliance intends to use the proceeds for infrastructure development and technological innovation, service products and general enterprise purposes, including working capital needs and potential acquisitions and investments.
In the past three years, Full Truck Alliance has completed a round A and round B funding. In April 2018, Full Truck Alliance completed the first round of funding, totaling $1.9 billion. Among them, Softbank Vision Fund made up the largest investment, about 1 billion US dollars; China Reform Fund ranked second, with about 200-300 million US dollars. In November 2020, it received US $1.7 billion in venture capital from Fidelity, Permira, Sequoia Capital China and SoftBank Vision Fund. In 2021, it was the recipient o f a strategic investment fromf Sinopec Capital.
SEE ALSO: Amazon Purchases 1,000 Self-Driving Truck Systems from Plus, Marking a Further Step Towards Autonomy
The Wall Street Journal reported that Didi Chuxing Technology, the Chinese car-hailing service giant, issued an IPO document on June 10, planning to collect billion dollars and to list in the United States in July. These plans show that although the Biden administration has held up some of Trump’s policies, Chinese start-ups are still seeking to list in the US.
