Charting the road to success beyond Hong Kong for delivery service start-up Lalamove

CEO Shing Chow began in 2013 with a three-man team and now operates in 81 cities, while hoping to drive the local start-up trend

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Shing Chow started his company, Lalamove, from scratch. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:01am, 12 Jun 2017Updated: 11:09am, 25 Nov 2019

It is many an entrepreneur’s dream to raise the first million dollars, then move beyond Hong Kong to conquer other markets. But to do that, a good concept is not enough, because even the best idea requires large amounts of blood and sweat as well as a never-say-die attitude, as one start-up founder put it.

“It doesn’t matter if a hundred people reject you, what matters is that [at least] one person believes in your vision,” said Shing Chow, co-founder and CEO of Lalamove, an online vehicle delivery sharing service with a mobile app previously dubbed the “Uber for logistics”.

In 2013, the firm started with a three-person team in an incubation programme at the Science Park. It has raised US$60 million from investors such as venture capital firm MindWorks, and has operations in 81 cities including Singapore, Manila, Bangkok and Taipei. It also operates in mainland China.

Chow, 39, said he was contemplating listing the company in Hong Kong or overseas.

“Finding an investor is not like being a boyfriend who must keep to one partner. You should see as many people as possible,” he said.