This week in China financing news: Online second-hand car marketplace receives USD 50 million; Tencent invests USD 200M in millenial video site Bilibili; and rent installment website receives USD 8.6 million.
Rent installment website receives USD 8.6 million
On Friday, 58fangdai.com, an online to offline platform providing rent installment services received RMB 55 million (USD 8.6 million) in its D-series fundraising, led by an investment fund headed by Zhang Liang, CEO of Shenzhen-based real estate company Seedland. Founded in January 2015, the company aims to alleviate the financial burden of college graduates by paying their three months’ rent plus deposit up front. Students then pay the app on a month-to-month basis. The company provides service to multiple large cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. It claims to have generated RMB 150 million income per month.
Online second-hand car marketplace receives USD 50 million
On Wednesday, Haoche51, a platform for buying and selling second-hand cars, received USD 50 million in B-series financing. Source Code Capital and Fenghuang Xiangrui led the funding, followed by 9F Bank. Along with the funding announcement, Haoche51 also announced that the founder of former second-hand chain store brand Bucar has joined Haoche51 as a partner. This is the third round of financing for Haoche 51, which makes most of its income from commissions.
Sina founder’s new education platform receives million-dollar angel investment
On Tuesday, according to information from insiders, customized education platform Limi received several million USD in an angel investment from Northern Light Venture Capital. Limi’s focus is on elementary school math, and it currently cooperates with over 600 elementary schools, over 10,000 teachers, and over 300,000 students. It was founded in April by CEO Huo Liang, one of the founding members of Sina.
WeChat-based shopping service receives USD 79M from Hainan Airlines
On Monday, Sun Taoyong, CEO of Weimob, announced RMB 500 million (USD 79 million) in C-series funding from Hainan Airlines, which will boost Weimob’s valuation up to RMB two billion (USD 317 million). Weimob’s product Mengdian is a WeChat-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platform provider, which primarily supports marketing and e-commerce on WeChat. According to Sun’s internal letter, the company aims to list on China’s third board next year. Mengdian claims to host 1.2 million registered retailers as of July 2015.
Tencent may invest in popular millenial video site, boosting valuation to USD 200M
On Monday, Chinese media outlets reported that Tencent will invest in Bilibili, a video site popular among millenials, which features animation-focused subculture. The investment may boost Bilibili’s valuation to RMB 1.5 billion (USD 236 million). Bilibili allegedly has 26.97 million monthly active users as of July, 2014, according to the latest public data. Its primary rival AcFun received USD 50 million A-series funding from Alibaba-backed Youku Tudou in August. If Tencent succeeds in this investment, Alibaba and Tencent will be extending their competition into a new area.
(with contributions from Mochou Lee)