Beijing-based on-demand medicine retailer Dingdang Kuaiyao has closed its Series B+ round, raising RMB 1 billion (USD 150 million) from investors including Taikang Asset, Haier Biomedical, and Beijing Zhongguancun Longmen Investment Company Limited, dealmaker China Renaissance revealed via a WeChat post on Tuesday.
Existing investors such as SB China Capital, SoftBank’s VC unit in the country, and CMB International, China Merchants Bank’s investment vehicle, contributed funds.
This new round comes about a year and a half after the startup closed its RMB 600 million (USD 89 million) Series B round in March 2019.
Founded in 2014, Dingdang Kuaiyao, which operates its own pharmacies, features around-the-clock medicine deliveries, serving tens of millions of users in about 10 large cities including Beijing and Shanghai.
The company was the earliest firm in China to offer delivery within half an hour via its app which went online in February 2015, gaining first followers who needed medicine urgently at night when most traditional pharmacies were closed.
However, it lost its first-mover advantage to some degree as traditional pharmacies such as Napstar started to offer home delivery services via platforms such as food delivery platforms Ele.me and Meituan (HKSE: 3690), while Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) were both catching up via their e-commerce platforms.
Dingdang Kuaiyao will use part of the new funds to expand its services to another 10 cities in China by the end of this year, as part of its strategic plan to open 10,000 pharmacies in 1,000 cities nationwide, including smaller cities, founder and chairman Yang Wenlong said, according to the China Renaissance WeChat post.
