Funding

ByteDance reportedly invests in Dubai–based delivery startup

TikTok’s parent company put $10 million into iMile, sources told Bloomberg.
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iMile, a Dubai–based delivery company, has reportedly landed a surprising new investor: ByteDance.

TikTok’s parent put $10 million into the logistics startup as part of its Series A, sources told Bloomberg.

  • The round—which totaled $40 million and doesn’t disclose any investors—valued iMile at $350 million; it’s also one of largest for a woman-led company in the region.

No time to waste: iMile, which was founded in 2017 by CEO Rita Huang (formerly of Alibaba and Huawei) to tackle the Middle East’s “no address problem,” connects Chinese vendors to emerging markets via its last-mile delivery platform.

  • The company plans to use the capital to hire more engineers in China, plus boost its tech.

It’s also eyeing expansion.

“The investment will also help us accelerate our growth in many more markets to come...we have a real vision to connect Chinese sellers to the world through exceptional service,” Huang said in a statement, adding that iMile was looking to get into Africa and Latin America.

Zoom out: What might ByteDance get out of its reported investment? It comes back to social commerce. “E-commerce vendors are...increasingly using social media to target shoppers, which may explain the TikTok owner’s investment in a shipping company,” Bloomberg noted.—JS

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.