Scott Murdoch, Fanny Potkin, Kane Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Indonesian courier startup J&T Express has raised $2.5 billion in a funding round at a valuation of $20 billion, ahead of its plan to list in Hong Kong as soon as the first quarter of next year, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

J&T’s main backers — Boyu Capital, Hillhouse Capital Group and Sequoia Capital China — and Chinese gaming and internet giant Tencent Holdings (OTC:) were among investors in the latest fundraising, said two of the people.

SIG China, an investment arm of Susquehanna International Group that specializes in proprietary trading, broker-dealer and Chinese investing, was one of those who participated in the financing round.

The fundraising by J&T comes as it seeks to expand in China and Latin America, besides listing in Hong Kong.

J&T, Boyu, Hillhouse and SIG China did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Tencent and Sequoia China declined to comment.

They declined to name the people because it is confidential information.

J&T is aiming to raise $1 billion via the Hong Kong float, one of the people said. It has given the authority to Bank of America (NYSE) and China International Capital Corp. Morgan Stanley The people stated that the plan IPO would be held at the NYSE.

However, the banks refused to comment.

J&T was launched in 2015 by two senior executives of Chinese smartphone maker Oppo. Two senior executives from Oppo, a Chinese smartphone maker, founded J&T in 2015. They combined their knowledge of distribution to establish a vast logistics network throughout Southeast Asia for the lucrative e-commerce market.

It entered China in 2020 and competes against firms such as S.F. ZTO Express (NYSE :), and in-house logistic networks of the e-commerce titans. Alibaba (NYSE:) Group, JD (NASDAQ.:).com are available in this market.

Once it acquires the express delivery service of a local company for $1.1 million, it will be in a position to increase its presence within the second largest global economy. BEST (NYSE:) Inc. The announcement was made in October.

According to two sources, the company is looking at Latin America expansion and has been in negotiations with Shopee (a major client) for e-commerce services.

J&T and Shopee did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

J&T in April raised $1.8 billion, led by Boyu and joined by Sequoia and Hillhouse, at a post-money valuation of $7.8 billion, Reuters previously reported.