Fosun Gets Into Staffless Retail With Lead Funding for Convenience Store BingoBox
Tang Shihua
DATE:  Jan 17 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Fosun Gets Into Staffless Retail With Lead Funding for Convenience Store BingoBox Fosun Gets Into Staffless Retail With Lead Funding for Convenience Store BingoBox

(Yicai Global) Jan. 17 -- Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd. has made a move into the automated retail sector with a lead investment of USD80 million in BingoBox, a startup that operates a chain of unmanned convenience stores.

The B round of financing for the Zhongshan-based company also secured support from all four of its A round backers Prometheus Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Ventec China and GGV Capital, BingoBox said in a statement today.

The investment comes amid a string of mergers and acquisitions in China's staffless retail sector. Beijing-based Bianlifeng took over Ling Wa last week, and other recent transactions include Shanghai's Xingbianli acquiring 51Snackbar and Chengdu's Guoxiaomei merging with Fanqiebianli. China is ahead of the game in automated retail, which eliminates labour costs, thanks to widespread use of mobile payment systems such as Alipay and WeChat Wallet.

"Fosun's real estate resources, community property service network and media channels will provide Bingobox with huge competitive advantages," said Fosun Executive President Yu Genling.

BingoBox, whose stores are checkout free, plans to expand large scale in cities where it is already present over the next few months, and will strive to have a store for every 20,000 people in urban areas. That equates to at least 1,250 in Shanghai, based on the city's master plan to limit its population to 25 million.

Online news outlet 36Kr reported the news earlier today.

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Keywords:   FINANCING,Staffless Retailer,AI,Fosun,BinggoBox