Fundings Behind ForwardX

ForwardX is a startup making the world’s first smart luggage that can follow the owner – like autonomous driving.

Besides its 2C products, it is also making smart warehouse robotics.

V-AMR | Source: forwardx.com

Funding 

  • Seed: December 2016, $1 million 
  • Series A: May 2018. $10 million, led by CDH and Eastern Bell Capital 
  • Series B: March 2019, RMB 100 million, led by RiverHill Fund 

Market Sizing

  • To B: warehouse robotics, global market size $6-10 billion 
  • To C: global luggage market $18 billion 

In 2018, the total global revenue of Samsonite amounted to $3.8 billion while Tumi sales is 760 million (20% of global revenue)  

Backgrounds of VC Investors

Eastern Bell Capital, Series A lead

Focus 

  • Logistics 
  • Supply Chain 
  • Retail and Branding 
  • Data & AI 

Chairman of IC: Zhiming Mei, co-founder and CEO of GLP, one of the largest logistics real estate companies 

  • GLP was spun out of the former Asian business of the world’s biggest industrial real estate operator Prologis, with GIC as the largest shareholder (36.8%), shortly after 2008 financial crisis 
  • GLP owns and manages logistics facilities such as warehouses, controlling 55 per cent share of China’s industry of modern logistics facilities 
  • Largest customers: Amazon, Best Logistics, JD.com 
  • GLP was taken private in 2017 for $11.6 billion, led by Vanke (21.4%), HOPU (21.3%), Hillhouse (21.2%), Management (21.2%), Bank of China Investment (21.2%) 
  • GLP delisted in 2018 
    • In the interim, the company entered the European market with its US$2.8-billion deal to acquire the Gazeley platform from Brookfield.  
    • GLP had entered the US market via another entity-level transaction in 2015, acquiring the IndCor business from the Blackstone Group for US$8.1 billion. The investment is in 117 million square feet of logistics space across 36 US markets that is 90 percent leased. The deal sees GLP commit 55 percent of the equity of the investment initially, funded via a combination of cash and a short-term credit facility, with GIC accounting for the other 45 percent.  
    • In Jan 2018, GLP said it had received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to issue up to US$1.8 billion of Belt & Road bonds on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The bonds are used to finance projects related to the One Belt One Road initiative that seeks to connect Asia and Europe over land and sea. Proceeds will be used to repay existing debt related to the financing of GLP’s Gazeley acquisition. 
  • In June 2018, it was reported that Blackstone Group LP is buying U.S. industrial warehouse properties from Singapore-based logistics provider GLP for $18.7 billion.
    • Blackstone said the overall transaction totaled 179 million square feet of urban logistics assets, nearly doubling the size of its U.S. industrial footprint. 

RiverHill Fund, Series B lead

One line is probably enough – Founded by Simon Xie, co-founder of Alibaba.

It is easy to see the 2B potential of ForwardX – be ready for its mass robotics in 3-5 years.