Three Wharton Dealmakers Bet Their Future on Chinese Trucking
- Trio of Richards invest in Uber-like app Truck Alliance
- Trucking trio hail from Morgan Stanley, BAML, Tencent
A man offering his services as a road guide stands outside of a logistics park in Chengdu, China, on Tuesday, April 11, 2017. Truck Alliance Inc., known as Huochebang or truck gang in Chinese, is trying to bring the smartphone age to a trillion dollar industry that carries 80 percent of the country's cargo, yet has haulers standing emptynearly half the time.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergIn 2001, three Chinese men named Richard enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School before heading to high-flying careers as bankers and dealmakers. More than 15 years later they’ve teamed up to stake their future on building an Uber-like service for the country’s convoluted trucking industry.
Their company Truck Alliance Inc., known as Huochebang or truck gang in Chinese, is trying to bring the smartphone age to a trillion-dollar industry that carries 80 percent of the country’s cargo, yet has haulers standing empty almost half the time. Founded little more than three years ago, the company has joined the billion-dollar valuation club and raised $270 million.