Chinese energy services platform has garnered as much as 900 million yuan ($129 million) in a Series D round of financing led by China International Capital Corporation’s private equity arm CICC Capital.
With this, the total capital raised by Newlink has reached over 2.4 billion yuan ($343 million). The group claims that it is the largest funding in the field of digital energy services, according to a company statement.
The round was joined by new backer Xiaomi Corporation and returning investors including Korea Investment Partners (China), smart automobile player NIO’s investment arm NIO Capital and Yuyue Capital. KIP along with NIO Capital and Yuyue had together poured $110 million in Newlink’s Series C round back in November 2019.
China Renaissance served as the financial advisor to the deal.
Headquartered in Beijing, Newlink operates three platforms – Chezhubang, Tuanyou, Kuaidian. It uses new generation technologies such as AI, big data, and IoT to provide digital energy infrastructure services. Tuanyou connects over 20,000 gas stations to serve 400 million drivers, while Chezhubang helps drivers locate the nearest gas station and enables cardless fueling.
Newlink generated gross merchandise volume (GMV) of 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) as of 2019, and it is expected to touch 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) by 2020.
“The developments of 5G network and AIoT will profoundly change our lives and industries. The traditional sectors such as energy ask for digital and intelligent transformations. Xiaomi will firmly support Newlink through our strong capacities on AI and IoT,” said Yuekai, the head at Xiaomi’s supply chain finance arm SCF-MI, in the statement.
Newlink will use the proceeds to initiate new business, Newlink Cloud, to provide a one-stop cloud solution covering online payments, retail and finance management, and supply chain.
Previously, New link has also been backed by a collection of marquee investors which include state-owned National Small Medium Enterprises Development Fund (National SME Development Fund), ACL Fund, Oriental Fortune Capital, Rizhao Caijin Investment Group, Sino Pacific Capital, Zero2IPO Investment, among others.