Oh man, Alibaba is everywhere. Could Jack Ma just give others some room?!
It is good to have national champions. Let them thrive first. Then, maybe some action will be taken by the regulators.
Alibaba invests $200M in Snapchat
Alibaba’s spending spree continues! The Chinese ecommerce behemoth has just given American chat startup Snapchat a US$200 million cash infusion, a source familiar with the deal told Tech in Asia. This latest investment values the American company at around US$15 billion. Neither company has officially announced the investment yet.
This is just the latest in a long line of mega-investments from the Chinese company. Earlier this month, Alibaba earmarked US$315 million to invest in Taiwanese startups. In February, it sank
nearly US$600 million into Chinese smartphone startup Meizu and took
a big stake in Indian payments service Paytm. Those are just a few of Alibaba’s other big investments so far this year, and in 2014 the company went on
a spending spree that saw it invest big in everything from Chinese film companies to American ridesharing startups.
This actually isn’t Alibaba’s first big investment into an American chat app either. The company
put US$280 million into American messaging app Tango last year. It remains unclear what Alibaba hopes to gain from its investments in these US-based startups, or whether it hopes to integrate their technologies into any of its own products. But American investments are in line with Alibaba’s broader strategy of expanding its global reach and attracting more overseas customers this year in its quest to become the world’s most dominant ecommerce player.
Alibaba isn’t the first company in China’s tech scene to show an interest in Snapchat, though. Tencent actually
invested in the American startup back in 2013 during a US$60 million round of fundraising, although it’s not clear how much of that sum the Chinese company contributed.
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And there are so many successful startups that fail to make headlines.
China’s Dianping soon to complete $850M funding round: report
Dianping, a Chinese amalgamation of Yelp and Groupon, will soon complete a US$850 million funding round, according to QQ Tech.
Dianping refused to comment on the deal in a phone call with
Tech in Asia. We have reached out to some of the investors listed in QQ Tech’s article for comment.
QQ Tech reports the investors include Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, Chinese property giant Wanda Group, and Hina Group, along with some of the company’s previous investors.
Dianping is China’s most popular site for reviews of restaurants and other local businesses. It generates revenue largely from its group buying ecommerce site and app.
Here’s a rundown of the company’s previous funding rounds:
- January 2006, US$2 million series A round from Sequoia Capital
- May 2007, US$25 million series B round from Google Ventures and Sequoia Capital
- April 2011, US$100 million series C round from Sequoia Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Lightspeed Ventures
- August 2012, US$64 million series D round from Sequoia Capital, Capital Today, and EZ Capital
Last year, Chinese web giant Tencent
took a 20 percent stake in Dianping. The terms of that deal were not disclosed, but
estimates are in the US$500 million range. Dianping was soon after incorporated in Tencent’s WeChat, the most popular messaging app in the country with
468 million monthly active users.
QQ Tech states that sources told it Dianping originally only planned to raise about US$300 million. But after it’s chief competitor, Meituan,
raised US$700 million, it felt it had to keep pace. According to an
iResearch report from 2013, Alibaba’s Juhuasuan is China’s top daily deals site, followed by Meituan and then Dianping.
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Xiaomi MiPad and budget Redmi 2 set to launch in India on March 24
At an event this morning in Delhi, Chinese gadget maker Xiaomi revealed that its tablet, the MiPad, and the updated version of its cheapest phone, the Redmi 2, are set to launch in India on March 24.
The budget-oriented
Redmi 2 first launched in China in January, while the
MiPad dates back to May 2014.
Xiaomi’s MiPad, which comes with a 7.9-inch 1080p HD screen, will cost INR 12,999 (US$207), while the Redmi 2 (with a 4.7-inch 720p HD screen) is pegged at INR 6,999 (US$112). Although both those gadgets are offered in a variety of colors in China, Indian consumers only get the white versions, according to a liveblog on Xiaomi India’s Facebook page.
Xiaomi first launched in India in July 2014. The company only sells phones online in India in partnership with homegrown ecommerce titan Flipkart.
The Redmi 2 requires pre-registration on Flipkart, starting today at 6pm Delhi time. However, the MiPad will be available on launch day without pre-ordering.