In 2013, our CEO, Shing Chow, spotted an opportunity in the burgeoning mobile internet industry, after realizing how rapidly upstart passenger transport companies like Uber and Didi were growing in China. Yet, he saw a greater business potential in the then traditional and low-tech freight logistics sector, as reported in a recent article by AI Finance. “There were 1.35 million taxis in China, but 20 million freight vans. The efficiency of those 20 million vans was very low,” Chow said.

Uber and Didi’s matching platform could complete between 40 and 60 orders a day, more than twice the efficiency of regular cab drivers, he noticed. In the freight market, instead, van drivers would finalize just about three orders per day, with long periods spent sleeping in the car waiting for the next order.

In October of 2013, Chow, with his typically high-risk attitude, sold all of his real estate holdings in Hong Kong to finance a new freight transport matching platform, EasyVan, which will be later known as Lalamove. Chow’s ambitions were tempered for the time being. He imposed a strict “996” working schedule for programmers to complete the first EasyVan app in eight weeks. The app was an innovative Uber-style platform that allowed customers and delivery drivers to directly connect, facilitating on-demand, same-day, delivery and moving services within Hong Kong.

Chow’s early approach to leading Lalamove was also volatile and erratic. He hastily launched an expansion into Japan within the company’s first month of activity but was forced to retreat and accept significant losses on the venture. Still, that was just a lost shot in Chow’s expansion plans, as Lalamove would grow to serve over 7 million users across Asia, Latin America, and the US.

During its early stage, Chow had a tight budget and little room for marketing activities, so his team adopted an unconventional approach: employees were going to the streets with signs and portable billboards to promote the app. In 2014, Chow unintentionally even scored a viral video that amassed over 1 million views on YouTube, thanks to senior executive Matthew Tan being filmed while dancing with Lalamove’s advertising on two trucks. The video gave the firm some early notoriety in Hong Kong.

By the end of 2014, EasyVan announced its expansion into mainland China and Southeast Asia through two independent brands and apps: Huolala for China, and Lalamove for Southeast Asia.