Liquor e-commerce website Wangjiu.com, owned by Chinese internet video behemoth LeTV, now known as LeEco, has completed a Series A funding of RMB 200 million (USD 30.4 million) from private equity firms backed by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and China Construction Bank (CCB) on Wednesday, iFeng Tech reports.
LeEco is known for building an ecosystem for its supply chain in all divisions. In the case of Wangjiu.com, CEO Li Rui said the funding will be used towards improving the ecosystem of the business in the following four areas: content, platform, products and services. Wangjiu.com was founded in October 2011 and claims to be China’s first vertically integrated wine ecosystem.
It’s reported that the e-commerce platform will add more staff to support LeEco’s offline store, Leshi Shenghuo Guan or Lifestyle store, going nationwide in China.
The funding will also be used to position Mi Jiu – a glutinous rice wine which is a product derived from a popular Chinese TV drama – a more competitive commercial brand. The website also wants to position wine suppliers from Australia’s Penfolds and Chile’s Concha y Toro to the platform’s competitive advantage.
As for content, the platform will try to produce more stories related to its products. The details of such are not available immediately.
In the service realm, the website plans to utilize LeTV’s abundant resources including engaging its business partners and incorporating Yidao Yongche, China’s third-largest ride hailing company – of which the CEO of LeEco owns 70% – to Wangjiu.com’s ecosystem.
(Top photo from Sina.com)