FORMER Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. employee Zhang Hui is the latest Chinese entrepreneur to join the ranks of billionaires after his Uber-like trucking startup went public Tuesday in New York.

Zhang, the founder and chairman of Full Truck Alliance Co., has a stake worth about US$2.1 billion, as shares in the firm closed at US$21.50 in New York Stock Exchange trading, a 13 percent increase over the initial public offering (IPO) price.

Zhang, 42, owns 9.2 percent of the firm, which operates a truck-sharing app that connects merchants and drivers.

He’s the most recent in a line of entrepreneurs who amassed vast fortunes after starting their own businesses following stints at tech giants such as Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Zhang is also the most recent example of how Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp., the company’s largest shareholder, is helping to create billionaires in the region.

Zhang is following in the footsteps of Cheng Wei, a co-founder of Chinese ride-hailing unicorn Didi who also worked at Alibaba before setting up his own venture.

Cheng could be worth as much as US$6.7 billion when Didi goes public in the United States this year, based on reported valuations in the secondary market.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund has a 20 percent stake in Full Truck Alliance that’s worth about US$4.7 billion. Other investors include Tencent and Sequoia Capital China.

Full Truck Alliance was the world’s largest digital freight platform by gross transaction value in 2020, the company said in its prospectus, citing a China Insights Consultancy report.

About 2.8 million truckers fulfilled shipping orders last year covering more than 300 cities across China as of the end of 2020, the prospectus said.

(SD-Agencies)