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Alibaba Makes Fourth Investment of $1.3 Billion To Boost Offline Retail Strategy

12Feb By RishabhNo Comments

CHINA

Alibaba Makes Fourth Investment of $1.3 Billion To Boost Offline Retail Strategy

Alibaba Group on Sunday revealed that it will be working towards expansion of its retail footprint and has announced that it invested RMB 5.45 billion (around $867 million) for 15% stake in Beijing Easyhome Furnishing, China’s second-largest home-improvement supplies and furniture chain and invested $486 million in Shiji Retail Information Technology, for 38% stakes. “The investment will combine the strengths of the world’s largest e-commerce platform and rich offline sources of Easyhome,” Alibaba said in a statement. Alibaba has been working on its strategy- "new retail" which is aimed at combining online and offline. As a part of this strategy, the Beijing Easyhome deal is Alibaba's fourth major investment in a brick and mortar chain after it bought majority of stakes in hypermark...

7Feb By reutersNo Comments

CHINA

Apple Brings Alibaba-linked Payment System into China Stores Amid Market Push

Apple Inc will accept Chinese mobile payment app Alipay in its local stores, boosting its ties with giant e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd amid a push by the iPhone maker to revive growth in the world’s No.2 economy. The tie-up will make Alipay, run by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, the first third-party mobile payment system to be accepted at any physical Apple store worldwide, Ant Financial said in a statement on Wednesday. Apple’s own payment system has had a lukewarm reception in China. The Cupertino-based firm will accept Alipay payment across its 41 brick-and-mortar retail stores in China, said Ant Financial, which was valued at $60 billion in 2016. Apple, whose China website, iTunes store and App Store have been accepting Alipay for more than a year, did not imme...

Alibaba and Ant Financial Invested Net $500M in Zomato and BigBasket

2Feb By RishabhNo Comments

FUNDING

Alibaba and Ant Financial Invested Net $500M in Zomato and BigBasket

Alibaba's payment affiliate- Ant Financial has invested $200 million in restaurant discovery and food ordering app Zomato, latest stock exchange filings by Zomato's largest stakeholder- InfoEdge revealed. InfoEdge currently holds 45% stake in Zomato, and informed Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday that the funding round includes a $50 million secondary share sale to Ant Financials, which will dilute its stake in Zomato to about 30.9% post the capital infusion. The primary and secondary shares of Zomato,value it at $880 million pre-money, according to the statement filings. Pixr8 reported in Semptember that Zomato may receive a $200 million funding from China’s payments giant Ant Financial Services Group, valuing it around $1 billion. “The expected date of completion of sale/disp...

Valued at $10B, Paytm’s 200 Employees Become Millionaires

29Jan By RishabhNo Comments

BUSINESS

Valued at $10B, Paytm’s 200 Employees Become Millionaires

One97 Communication owned, payments and gateway company Paytm is now valued at $10 billion. As a result, the existing and former Paytm employees have been able to liquidate their vested ESOPS (employee stock ownership plan) by selling them to new investors including undisclosed family offices. Over 200 employees of the company liquidated their shares for Rs 300 crore. Earlier the company was valued at $7 billion when it raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank Group. This valuation has made Paytm, the second most valued startup after Flipkart, which is valued somewhere close to $12 billion. A similar sale round occurred early last year where a 100-crore employee liquidity event took place. Till now around 200 Paytm former and existing employees have been able to sell shares for Rs 500 c...

Alibaba To Invest $300M In Grocery Delivery Startup BigBasket

8Dec By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

FUNDING

Alibaba To Invest $300M In Grocery Delivery Startup BigBasket

Alibaba will pump in up to USD 300 million in online grocery player, BigBasket, according to industry sources. The deal, which is expected to be announced in the next few weeks, will give BigBasket more muscle to compete against rivals like Grofers and e-tailing giant Amazon, they said. The sources did not wish to be identified as the discussions are private. BigBasket and Alibaba did not respond to emails. In November, the Chinese e-commerce major had sought approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for acquiring stake in BigBasket. Investing in BigBasket would help Alibaba add more muscle to take on US-based rival Amazon, while for Paytm, the move would further strengthen its play in the Indian e-commerce space. Amazon India has received governments approval...

SoftBank In Talks To Invest $500M In Paytm Mall

28Nov By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

SoftBank In Talks To Invest $500M In Paytm Mall

After investing in Indian e-commerce majors Flipkart and Snapdeal, Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank Group is now set to invest in another Indian e-commerce space Paytm Mall. It is estimated that Paytm Mall may receive a funding around $500-600 millions in a fresh round. As per the reports, SoftBank will put around $300 million into the e-commerce venture operated by Vijay Shekhar Sharma's Paytm E-commerce Pvt Ltd. Paytm Mall has already received funding from Chinese e-tailing company Alibaba, which now holds a majority stake in the company. Also, SoftBank is one of the investors of One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm wallet and holds around 20 percent. The telecom conglomerate already holds majority stakes in Snapdeal, which it tried to merge with Flipkar...

23Nov By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

CHINA

Users Opting Mobile Payments Exceed 520 Million In China

The number of Chinas mobile wallet users has exceeded 520 million with combined payments of over USD 6 trillion, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibabas financial services affiliate said today. According to the Peoples Bank of China, Chinese banks dealt with 8.6 billion payments from mobile services in the second quarter of this year, up 40.5 per cent from a year ago. The combined value of mobile payments jumped 33.8 per cent to 39.2 trillion yuan (USD six trillion). The growth came as user-friendly platforms such as WeChat Pay encourage online transactions. Also Read Google Will Track Your Location Even When You Turn It Off! In April, Ant Financial, Alibabas financial affiliate which runs the popular Ali Pay -- Chinas leading third-party online payment ...

Tencent Beats Alibaba To $500B Valuation, Overtakes Facebook

21Nov By reutersNo Comments

ANALYSIS

Tencent Beats Alibaba To $500B Valuation, Overtakes Facebook

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hina’s biggest social network and gaming firm Tencent Holdings, which last week reported forecast-beating quarterly results, is close to making Malaysia the first foreign country to roll out its WeChat ecosystem, an executive told Reuters. Tencent has made a “breakthrough” in gaining an e-payment license in Malaysia for local transactions, and plans a launch early next year, senior vice president S.Y. Lau said in an interview. The move pits Shenzhen-based Tencent against rival Alibaba Group as they scramble for new growth opportunities outside China. Tencent on Tuesday became the first Asian firm to enter the club of companies with a market value of more than $500 billion, surpassing that of Facebook. “Malaysia is actually quite large in the sense that we have ...

20Nov By reutersNo Comments

CHINA

Alibaba Goes Offline With $2.9B Stake In China’s Top Grocer

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]nternet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Monday it would invest HK$22.4 billion ($2.87 billion) for a major stake in China’s top hypermart operator, Sun Art Retail Group Ltd, part of a wider push into offline retail. As part of an alliance with Auchan Retail S.A. and Ruentex Group, Alibaba would buy the stake from Ruentex while Auchan Retail would boost its stake, the three companies said in a joint statement. The alliance would target opportunities in China’s $500 billion food retail sector, as Alibaba races to build big-data capabilities in the offline retail market where roughly 85 percent of sales are made. “Physical stores serve an indispensable role during the consumer journey, and should be enhanced through data-driven technology and personalized ...

Ecommerce Giant Alibaba Sees India As ‘Very Important’

13Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Ecommerce Giant Alibaba Sees India As ‘Very Important’

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's CEO Daniel Zhang said that their company sees India as a "very important" market, on occasion of the 11/11 Global Shopping Festival. “Globalisation is one of our key strategies for Alibaba. As part of this strategy, India is a very important topic. India is a very important market for us to look at,” said Daniel Zhang. “Before entering any new market, we ask ourselves how we can help the local market. For a market like India, the key aspect of our strategy is to help the local enterprises grow,” he added. It's biggest bet in India, which costed them an investment of $1.4 billion in the payments wallet, is something the company is "happy" about. Also Recommended Uber Locks On Multibillion Dollar Deal With Japanese SoftBan...

Alibaba Singles’ Day Broke Last Year’s Record, 11 Hours Before End

11Nov By RishabhNo Comments

News

Alibaba Singles’ Day Broke Last Year’s Record, 11 Hours Before End

Alibaba's Singles' Day shopping bonanza has broke last year's all time high of $18.2 billion by 1:09 PM in Beijing with hours to go before the final bell. The annual frenzy had already hit $8.6 billion in sales in the first hour after starting at midnight, and by 8 a.m. some 82 brands had topped 100 million yuan in sales including New Balance, Samsung and Shiseido, according to Alizila, a blog run by the company. More than 90 percent of transactions were done via mobile. Shoppers from at least 192 countries and regions swarmed the e-commerce giant to scoop up discounted lobster, iPhones and refrigerators, at a rate of as many as 256,000 transactions per second. The Chinese company hosted a star-studded gala with tennis star Maria Sharapova and American rapper Pharrell Williams to pum...

9Nov By reutersNo Comments

News

PayPal Starts Payment Services In India

Payment processor PayPal Holdings Inc on Wednesday launched domestic operations in India, a market already dominated by China’s Alibaba-backed PayTM, the country’s leading digital payments firm. PayPal’s entry in the Indian market comes as a push for cashless transactions by the Narendra Modi-led government is seeing more people use e-wallets and card payments. The online payment industry is pegged to grow tenfold to $500 billion by 2020. “India is transitioning away from our biggest competitor – cash – and our digital platform and technology has immense scope to enable this at scale,” Anupam Pahuja, country manager and managing director, PayPal India said. “For us, the marathon has just begun.” Alphabet Inc’s Google launched a localized payments app for India in September, tryi...