Uber For Trucks — Manbang — Piles On Another $1.7B Funding Over Google, SoftBank's, Ahead Of Highly-Anticipated IPO

SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY-backed Manbang, a trucking startup, raised $1.7 billion in its latest funding round, TechCrunch reported Tuesday.

What Happened: The funding occurs two years after Manbang raised $1.9 billion from SoftBank, Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG, and other investors.

The latest funding round of the company attracted SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital China, Permira, and Fidelity as a consortium. Others that participated included Hillhouse Capital, GGV Capital, Lightspeed China Partners, Tencent Holdings Limited TCEHY, and Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA -founder Jack Ma’s YF Capital, according to TechCrunch.

The Guiyang, China-based company pairs truck drivers with customers who want to transport cargo and also provides financial services to the latter. The company’s services are akin to Uber Inc UBER but for trucks.

Manbang said it has over 10 million verified drivers and 5 million cargo owners. The startup has achieved profitability and was on track to achieve a valuation of $10 billion in 2018, as per TechCrunch.

Why It Matters: Manbang, which is also known as the Full Truck Alliance outside of China, planned to raise the funds ahead of an initial public offering next year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Manbang CEO Zhang Hui said last year that the company was not in a rush to go public, according to local Chinese media, as cited by TechCrunch.

Chinese companies have raised $107.2 billion in public offerings so far this year, as per Dealogic data.

Sequoia marks its sixth investment in Manbang after the latest round and for Permira, it is the China debut of its Growth Opportunities Fund, noted TechCrunch.

Price Action: On Monday, SoftBank OTC shares closed 0.86% lower at $32.85. Alphabet Class A shares closed 0.51% lower at $1,727.56 and Class C shares closed 0.42% lower.