Huice, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) developer for the smart retail sector, has secured around $100 million in a Series C round funding led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, according to a company statement on Thursday.

Hillhouse Capital’s venture capital unit GL Ventures entered as a new investor in Huice, while SoftBank Ventures Asia and Legend Holdings’ investment arm Legend Capital also re-upped in the latest funding round.

SoftBank Ventures Asia-backed joint fund TPG had exclusively invested over 100 million yuan ($15 million) in Huice’s Series A round in 2019, while Legend Capital had backed its Series B round last year.

With the fresh funding, Huice aims to facilitate its pipeline of software products, besides investing in talent recruitment and service support.

Huice, formerly known as Wangdiantong, is a cloud computing-driven SaaS provider focussed on maximising digitalization of the retail industry.

Set up in 2012, and managed by Beijing Zhangshang Xianji Network Technology, the provider has delivered its portfolio of software and tools such as enterprise resource planning, platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and big data analysis for retailers to achieve smart business management.

The company has served a slew of sectors such as food and beverages, apparel, skincare and cosmetics, household furniture and 3C (computer, communication, consumer electronic). Besides, it counts McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, MSD, Budweiser, and leading Chinese air-products supplier COFCO among its clients.

The founder Bin Xiao is the controlling shareholder in Huice, with a 25.94 per cent stake, followed by Tianjin Zhouge Management that has a 20.47 per cent equity interest. Yisheng (9.09 per cent), Shanya Investment (6.4 per cent), and Shengxia Holdings (5 per cent) are among its majority shareholders.

Its early-stage investors also comprise Ningbo Weijia Investment and China Change Investment Fund I.

GIC hit the headlines when, along with Onex Corporation, it collectively seeded $1 billion in the UK-based global specialty insurer Convex on November 17, 2020. Almost at the same time, it led a $200m funding in Chinese edtech startup Aixuexi.

Contact editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)

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