This week in China financing news: Zhihu, a Chinese Quora-like site, raises USD 50 million in A Series financing; campus food delivery app Q-Quick Fish rakes in USD 6.3 million and video game maker U9 Time pours nearly USD 50 million into loss-making Longzhu TV.
Fashion search engine Dress+ receives USD 10 million
On Thursday, visual fashion search engine Dress+ received RMB 63.6 million (USD 10 million) in its A-round financing, led by Youku Tudou and followed by LeBox Capital. Dress + enables buyers to find clothing similar to the styles they see in pictures and on videos. Dress + will also work with Youku Tudou to create a seamless buy-while-you-watch experience for users.
Campus delivery platform receives USD 6.3 million
On Wednesday, Q-Quick Fish, or Kuaikuaiyu, a campus delivery app that hires students to deliver goods door-to-door, received RMB 40 million (USD 6.3 million) in its A-round financing from Wheat Finance. In the last half year, it has seen a big shift in its operating model from a campus student delivery model into a virtual retail model, moving off campus and into the wider community. It hopes to convince locals to open their own virtual stores and deliver their own products. It already has over 4000 virtual stores on 1000 campuses in 300 cities.
Zhihu, Chinese Quora receives USD 50 million
On Tuesday, Zhihu.com, the Chinese version of Quora, received USD 50 million in its C-round financing, giving it a valuation of USD 300 million to USD 400 billion, according to 36kr.com. Tencent took the lead in this investment, followed by Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund, Sogou.com and Innovation Works.
Smart POS Yunnex raises USD 15.8 million in A+ series funding
On Tuesday, Smart POS Yunnex raised USD 15.8 million (RMB one hundred million) in A+ series funding. Leading this round of funding is Fenghou Capital and GSR Ventures. Su Kai, CEO of Yunnex, said the funding will be used to expand new markets aimed at offline industries and to build a sales team. Yunnex has partnered with merchants such as Subway and Grandma’s Home. Yunnex has about 80% market share. Su Kai sees smart POS as the future of administrative management.
Online retailer, Duiba, receives USD 4.7 million investment
On Tuesday, Duiba, an app that combines with online retail apps to let consumers collect reward points, announced that it has received USD 4.7 million in its A-round financing led by Yunyi investment, a company focusing on new third board TMT companies. This is Duiba’s second round of financing this year. Apps that use Duiba include Baidu Mobile Helper, PPTV, Ganji, 58, Baofeng, and Meilishuo.
Video game maker U9 Time invests USD 43.8 million in Longzhu TV
On Monday, U9 Time announced that it will invest RMB 278 million (USD 43.8 million) in Youshi (Longzhu TV). It’s estimated that U9 Time will control 21% of its equity. As of now, Longzhu TV is still operating at a loss. Its operating income in the first half of 2015 was RMB 58.85 million (USD 9.3 million), but it also lost RMB 51.12 million (USD 8.2 million).
(with contributions from Mochou Lee)