Power Bank Rental Service Aneak Secures RMB 500 Mln Funding
iYiou, 8/19/17
Beijing-based Kuaishuashua Information Technology, operator of power bank rental service Aneak, recently announced completion of more than RMB 500 mln in Series A funding from investors including Will Hunting Capital, Shenzhen-based vehicle-mounted video screen network operator Longfan Media, senior managers at Focus Media Group (002027.SZ), and government industry development funds.
Aneak was established in September 2015 and operates power bank rental units deployed in partnership with business owners. A single rental unit can hold up to 16 power banks. Users can download an app or access the official Aneak account on WeChat to rent a power bank after paying a RMB 68 security deposit. The rental rate is RMB 2 per 24-hour period. A few rental locations operate under a combined business model with both mobile power banks available for rent at a front counter, and immobile power bank stations available for desktop charging.
Following the Series A funding, Aneak plans to expand to reach 25 cities. It will follow a direct-operations business model in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, and will partner with local operators in other cities. Aneak also plans to operate in Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe, and will partner with national tourism administrations abroad. In terms of overseas payments, Aneak will partner with third-party payment services Alipay and Apple Pay.
Aneak has a strong offline network, and plans to open up hardware interfaces and add communications equipment, smart hardware, and narrow-band Internet of Things technologies to support IoT networking.
Aneak has also partnered with Tsinghua University to develop electric vehicle mobile charging stations, which it plans to deploy in 2019.
Keywords: Kuaishuashua Aneak M&A VC hardware funding business model Series A Tsinghua University Will Hunting Capital electric vehicle Longfan power bank smart terminal
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