(Yicai Global) Oct. 16 -- Unstaffed store operator EasyGo has received a strategic investment of tens of millions of yuan from Times Property Holdings Ltd. [HK:1233], it announced, as jiemian.com reported.

The fund will be used to establish data back-ends, improve technologies and facilitate store expansion.

This is the third round of financing carried out by futuristic convenience store chain EasyGo in the recent four months. EasyGo completed its seed financing of USD755,000 (CNY5 million) in June.

In August it received an angel investment of CNY20 million from among others Zhejiang Yi Kun Venture Capital.

On this recent strategic investment, EasyGo co-founder Wang Mumu said that Times Property will open all its developments exclusively to EasyGo to help accelerate the latter's expansion and its auxiliary facilities will also interconnect with EasyGo.

In addition to Times Property, EasyGo has also embarked on cooperation with other property companies, such as Helenbergh Realty Development Co. EasyGo has also settled in large estate communities such as those of China Vanke Co. [HK:2202], New World China Land [HK:0917], Evergrande Group [HK:3333], and China Aoyuan Property Group Ltd. [HK:3883]. By the end of this month, EasyGo will have a presence in the communities of 10 real estate companies, Wang projected.

By the end of this year, the number of its stores in Guangzhou will increase to 100, Wang said. After completing standardization, EasyGo will be amenable to partnerships. Aside from Shenzhen and other major cities in the Pearl River Delta, next year, EasyGo will settle densely in five key regions nationwide. In addition to the radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, other technologies such as visual identity and facial recognition will also activate in EasyGo's future store system.

EasyGo's daily per-store turnover is currently around CNY2,000. Seventy percent of its commodities are imported goods, with the gross profit margin of about 35 percent and a stock damage rate of about 3percent.

Apart from opening up new stores, EasyGo is also outputting data and technologies to help traditional retailers complete their technical transformation. This may become a future business model for EasyGo.