Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital leads US$315 million funding round for industrial e-commerce firm ZKH

Shanghai-based ZKH has achieved the largest single round of financing in China’s industrial supplies sector

The company’s e-commerce platform is focused on industrial maintenance, repair and operations supplies

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Workers assemble vehicles at a smart factory in Chongqing, a sprawling city in southwest China, on September 23. The country’s car manufacturing sector is a major market for ZKH Industrial Supply (Shanghai) Co, which runs an e-commerce platform for industrial supplies. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:30pm, 28 Oct 2020Updated: 9:30pm, 28 Oct 2020

ZKH Industrial Supply (Shanghai) Co, operator of an e-commerce platform for industrial products, has raised US$315 million from its Series E funding, which the company describes as the largest single round of financing in China’s industrial supplies sector.

The round was led by Yunfeng Capital, a Shanghai-based private equity firm co-founded by Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma in 2010, according to a statement from ZKH posted on its official WeChat account on Wednesday. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

Other investors include state-owned China Structural Reform Fund Co, Eastern Bell Capital, Tencent Investment, Tiger Management Corp, Matrix Partners China and Legend Capital.

“ZKH is committed to becoming a platform-based eco-enterprise,” said company chief executive Chen Long in the statement. “We will continue to work to enhance digital and supply chain capabilities, becoming the ‘infrastructure’ for the industrial supplies industry.”

A screenshot of ZKH Industrial Supply (Shanghai) Co’s website. The company operates an e-commerce platform for industrial maintenance, repair and operations supplies. Photo: SCMP

ZKH said the funds raised will be mainly used for expanding its market, including the categories and services that it covers, as well as on technology research and team building. It also plans to combine “self-operated products and third-party suppliers” on its platform.

The company’s last funding round was completed in June last year, when it raised US$160 million from a group of investors led by Tencent Investment, which is a unit of internet giant Tencent Holdings. It has now raised more than US$670 million since its first funding round in 2016.

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