Alibaba rival Wanda E-commerce has raised one billion yuan (roughly $161 million) in funding, quadrupling its valuation to 20 billion yuan (about $3 billion).
The funding came from investment funds Centec Networks and Xude Rendao. Centec Networks now holds three per cent equity in the e-commerce company, and Xude Rendao holds two per cent. Wanda E-commerce expects to be fully operational in the fourth quarter of this year, TechCrunch reported, and intends to hold a second round of funding at this point.
Wanda E-commerce is a joint venture between Wanda, Tencent and Baidu founded in August. Tencent and Baidu each hold 15 per cent of the company. As Alibaba’s main rivals, both internet companies benefit from the tie-up. Wanda E-commerce uses Tencent products such as AliPay rivals TenPay and Weixin Payment, and will help Tencent to capitalize on the e-commerce potential of WeChat.
With its online-to-offline business model, Wanda E-commerce hopes to stand out from rivals Alibaba and JD.com.
Whitepapers
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