(Yicai Global) Sept. 25 -- China Energy E-Commerce Shenzhen Co., which runs a cross-border e-commerce platform for coal, has bagged CNY20 million (USD3.08 million) in its angel financing round, Iyiou reported on Sept. 25.

China Taiyuan Transaction Center led the round with support from Shenzhen International Holdings Ltd. [HKG:0152] and an investment management firm affiliated with Citic Securities Co. [SHA:600030;HKG:6030].

Recent years have seen traditional coal firms upgrade toward a modern supply chain management model to reduce transaction costs, improve logistics efficiency and alleviate profit compression caused by intensified changes in supply and demand. China Energy E-Commerce, the country's first e-commerce platform for coal, was set up in December 2015 to facilitate cross-border business. Its operator, China Energy Group, has more than ten years of experience in international and domestic coal trade.

China Energy E-Commerce integrated low-sulfur, low-ash coal sources in relevant countries, improved the logistics efficiency of transactions and sped up inventory turnover by setting up delivery warehouses as logistic nodes. It will also handle electronic transactions using internet technology and use supply chain finance to address such issues as low fund efficiency, high risk and long payment periods in traditional business.

The company has set up stable global resource cooperation with sources in Australia, Russia, South Africa, Indonesia, South America and other regions, and has set up a cooperation with large domestic coal suppliers. As of the end of August, the funding round was the largest for the coal e-commerce sector this year.