Don’t miss out our headlines this week: This business data platform founded by former Baidu VP just landed USD 30 million; Media site for overseas students extends new media reach by following Princeton Review model; and China’s version of “Booking.com” upgrades its search engine.
LeEco’s cloud platform completes USD 150 M in Series A financing led by a state-run fund
Lisa Zhang
Chinese Tech giant LeEco’s cloud platform, LeCloud, received RMB one billion (USD 153 million) in Series A financing led by an investment fund run by the Chongqing government, pushing its valuation to about RMB seven billion.
The investor will hold a 16.67% stake in the platform, while LeEco will decrease its stake from 60% to 50%.
This round of investment will be used for R&D, service improvement and new recruitment. The platform will also upgrade its cloud technology and expand its business to a global market.
This business data platform founded by former Baidu VP just landed USD 30 million
Wanbin Zhang
Haizhi, a business data platform founded by Ren Xuyang, former Business Development vice president of Baidu, received Series C financing of RMB 196 million (USD 30 million) on Wednesday. This new round of financing, led by Legend Capital, pushed the company’s valuation to RMB 16.4 billion.
IDG and Morningside Venture Capital also contributed to this round of funding. In 2014, Hillhouse Capital, IDG and Morningside Venture Capital injected an undisclosed amount of dollars in Series B financing, and In 2013, Haizhi landed RMB 42.5 million as an angel investment from Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI) and IDG.
The platform will use the funding to further enhance enterprise data analysis capabilities and grow its team, aiming to create an ecosystem based on big data, cloud computing and mobile Internet.
China’s version of “Booking.com” upgrades its search engine
Ke Jin
Yu Zhangtao, the founder and CEO of the company told AllChinaTech on Tuesday that it is using USD nine million in Series B funding to further expand its services to business customers.
Founded in 2013, Haoqiao.cn is like China’s version of Booking.com. The company operates a platform that distributes hotel resources from the largest online travel agencies including Tongcheng, Ctrip and eLong as well as more than 5000 offline tour agents.
Haoqiao’s hotel search process starts with a destination. Results come back with full information on hotel facilities, reviews as well as surroundings and distance from places of interest via Google Maps.
Home massage platform to tackle therapist safety issue with USD 7 M in financing
Wanbin Zhang
Home massage provider Yishengdaojia.cn announced that it has completed RMB 50 million (USD 7.7 million) in Series A financing round led by Century Galaxy.
Heyi Angel Investment Fund also contributed to the recent round of funding. Last March, the comapny received an angel investment of RMB 19 million (USD three million) from Angel Plus. Then in October, it received hundreds of thousands of RMB from the Beijing government.
The company will use this round of funding to further integrate their online platform with the healthcare industry, develop more services and expand to more cities, according to the company’s official website.
Media site for overseas students extends new media reach by following Princeton Review model
Dora Zhang
College Daily, a platform that provides information for overseas students, confirmed that it has received RMB 10 million (USD 1.5 milion) in Pre-A Series financing to expand its businesses.
Founded in 2013, the platform targets students in North America, providing them with information on college applications, living abroad and career development on its official website and WeChat account. It has confirmed that it closed a round of Pre-A Series financing last December, Chinese tech media outlet 36 Kr reported on Thursday.
This round of financing was led by Zhan.com, a site that helps students with the exams they need to study overseas, followed by returning investors including Dealmoon.com, a shopping guide providing coupons and deals which started out by marketing to Chinese Americans.
O2O platform looking to make dumplings trendy for millennials with USD 7 million from ZhenFund
Wanbin Zhang
Online and Offline dumpling provider Xiao Heng announced that it finished a new round of financing, receiving RMB 50 million (USD 7.6 million) from famous Chinese investment fund, ZhenFund.
Jingji VC and Qingsong Fund also contributed to the recent round of financing. Last January, ZhenFund, co-founded by Xu Xiaoping, co-founder of New Oriental Education & Technology Group, injected several million yuan as an angel investment into the platform.
Xiao Heng, aiming to build a famous fast-food dumpling brand, operates its own brick-and-mortar stores and also online dumpling delivery business. With their slogan, “it’s fashionable to eat dumplings”, Xiao Heng wants to provide this traditional food via their online platform to the huge group represented by smartphone-savvy millennials.
(All photos from Baidu Images)