Full speed ahead! Indonesian unicorn J&T Express just raised $2.5B in pre-IPO funding. Now, the express delivery startup is valued at $20B and ready to hit new territories.

• Boyu Capital, Hillhouse Capital Group, Sequoia China, Tencent Holdings and SIG China joined the round.

⏪  Little bit of history

Launched in 2015, J&T Express became one of Indonesia's top express delivery companies in just two years. Since 2017, it has expanded to Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia.

Taking over China. After expanding to China last year, it shot to the top five courier companies in the country. It's a big deal— China's one of the most competitive markets for express delivery.

• Eating up the market! J&T Express is acquiring Alibaba-backed BEST's express delivery business in China for a jaw-dropping $1.1B.

💞  Power couple?

With the new cash, J&T is looking to expand in Latin America. It's in talks with another giant, Shopee to pair up.

They'll make a great pair because they've got things in common — like the habit of rapid-fire expansion to new waters and insanely low prices. Plus, e-commerce goes hand-in-hand with delivery.

• Shopee loves to give free shipping and a ton of discounts when it enters new markets.
• J&T won in China by expanding ultra-fast and dropping its prices extra low — so low, it started a price war and got fined.

Save the date. After taking a detour from its plans on a US listing, J&T will be IPO-ing in Hong Kong early next year and hopes to raise $1B.