FruitDay, a fresh produce e-retailer in China, announced that it has secured US$70m of Series C funding. JD.com, a Chinese online direct sales company, was the lead investor in the round followed by an investor group including Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and ClearVue, both of which participated in previous financing rounds.
The funds raised are planned to be used for infrastructure construction, recruitment of management talent, business development and strengthening of FruitDay’s upstream supply chain system.
As part of the investment, JD.com and FruitDay will enter into a strategic cooperation under which FruitDay will leverage JD.com’s China wide fulfilment infrastructure to help it expand to serve markets throughout China.
FruitDay claims to be committed to maintaining strict quality control over the entire logistics process, including produce selection, transportation, storage, distribution and after-sale services. More than 80% of the fruit that FruitDay sells in China is imported from countries including the US, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and South Africa, among others, which brings considerable cold chain logistics requirements. This funding will be used to support and develop those services.
FruitDay’s founder and CEO Wei Wang said, “The financing announced today will allow us to continue strengthening FruitDay’s market leadership as we build a world-class management team and further expand our cold chain logistics and upstream supply chain capabilities.”
