Investment in YunQuNa, a China-based provider of international logistics services utilizing digital technology

Sumitomo Corporation (Head office: Chiyoda Ward; Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer: Masayuki Hyodo) has invested in YunQuNa (Head office: Shanghai, China), a China-based company providing international logistics services aided by digital technology. The investment was made through Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia (Head office: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), Sumitomo Corporation’s corporate venture capital firm in Asia.

The volume of the world’s containerized ocean cargo has almost doubled in the past decade. With regard to logistics services, however, supply has surpassed demand in recent times, leading to greater freight rate competition. In pursuit of greater productivity and efficiency, logistics service providers are working to digitize tasks conventionally performed by phone, email, and fax, but face challenges such as lost time caused by having to arrange trucking, warehousing, customs clearance, shipping, and other logistics services through diverse vendors, and the difficulty of keeping track of cargo in a timely manner.

YunQuNa offers 24/7 logistics services based on an online, end-to-end international container freight shipping platform it has developed. Realized by partnering with more than 100 logistics service providers, the platform allows the cargo owner to select a vendor that best meets the route and delivery deadline requirements. It also provides an online, one-stop solution for all tasks pertaining to shipping, ETA estimation, customs clearance, transportation arrangement, cargo tracking, and account settlement. The platform is currently available mainly for shipments between China and Central and South America, with YunQuNa looking to expand with the addition of routes to Africa and Europe. It is also looking into the future possibility of providing demand forecasting for logistics suppliers, and advance booking services for cargo owners, utilizing big data and AI.

Sumitomo Corporation has long engaged in international logistics through its own logistics arm, the Sumisho Global Logistics (SGL) Group. By cooperating with YunQuNa, the SGL Group and Sumitomo Corporation look forward to further expanding the group’s business base, and to exploring and driving digital transformation (DX) in the area of logistics. In its Medium-term Management Plan 2020, Sumitomo Corporation is looking to enhance its existing businesses and to use its platform business to promote DX and create businesses that will serve as new sources of earnings for the next generation. In creating next-generation businesses, the Company has an insight for the megatrends of the future and identified three growth areas in which it can leverage its strengths – “technology x innovation”, “healthcare”, and “social infrastructure” – and it will be actively investing management resources in these areas from a future-oriented perspective.

Related information
■ Profile of YunQuNa
・Company name: 运去哪 (YunQuNa)
・Representative: Zhou Shihao, CEO
・Date established: 2014

■ Sumitomo Corporation’s Material Issues
The Sumitomo Corporation Group positions “Six Material Issues to Achieve Sustainable Growth with Society” as an important factor in developing business strategies and in the decision-making processes for individual businesses. Going forward, we will pursue sustainable growth by resolving these issues through our business activities. This project should prove especially beneficial in “Establishing a Foundation for Comfortable and Enriching Lifestyles” and “Developing Human Resources and Promoting Diversity”