Photo: Reuters
In a good year for Alibaba it spent big on investments. Here’s this year’s top action.
SUN ART
Funding round: $2.9 billion
Country: China
Paying nearly $3 billion for a one-third stake, Alibaba invested in Sun Art Retail, which operates several well-known supermarket brands.
INTIME
Acquisition amount: $2.6 billion
Country: China
Alibaba made its first serious push into brick-and-mortar retail back in early 2014 when it ploughed nearly $700 million into department store and mall firm Intime.
TOKOPEDIA
Funding round: $1.1 billion
Country: Indonesia
In August, it doubled down on its 2016 Lazada acquisition – which gave the Chinese firm an online shopping empire across much of Southeast Asia – by throwing a lot of money at Indonesian ecommerce app Tokopedia.
LAZADA
Funding round: $1 billion
Country: Indonesia
Alibaba upped its stake in Lazada in April, paying an extra billion bucks to go from 51 to 83 percent.
ELE.ME
Funding round: $1 billion
Country: China
China’s growing hunger for food delivery led Alibaba to once again invest in Ele.me, which emerged as the leading meal-delivery app.
CAINIAO
Acquisition amount: $799 million
Country: China
Cainiao is Alibaba’s logistics wing, running a network of warehouses and trucking partners.
OFO
Funding round: $700 million
Country: China
Both Ofo and Mobike were bolstered by colossal funding rounds as they raced to expand overseas.
SOUCHE
Funding round: $335 million
Country: China
Souche – literally “search car” in Chinese – lives up to its name as a search engine for secondhand car buyers.
YIGUO
Funding round: $300 million
Country: China
Fresh foods app Yiguo operates in more than 200 cities across China, with those in some of the largest cities getting same-day delivery.
BIGBASKET
Funding round: $280 million
Country: India
Over in India, Alibaba is in the late stages of a move to invest in groceries startup BigBasket.
This is an excerpt from the article published on Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.