E-commerce firm Alibaba has invested an undisclosed amount in China-based food delivery platform Ele.me, while China-based ride hailing service Didi Kuaidi is also seeking new funding, Sina Tech has reported.
Ele.me operates an online food ordering platform that had raised about $1.1bn from investors including internet company Tencent, e-commerce firm JD.com, listings and reviews platform Dianping, Didi Kuaidi, Citic Private Equity, China Media Capital, Gopher Asset and Sequoia Capital.
Alibaba’s desire to invest in Ele.me first surfaced in December 2015, when Caixin reported it planned to provide $1.25bn at a $4.5bn valuation, giving it a 27.7% stake.
The investment has not been officially confirmed but Sina Tech has reported that regulatory paperwork shows Alibaba vice-chairman Joseph Tsai has taken a seat on Ele.me’s board.
News of the purported investment comes on the same day as a report that one of Ele.me’s backers, Didi Kuaidi, is set to close funding at a $20bn valuation.
Stephen Zhu, vice-chairman of Didi Kuaidi, revealed at a recent investor summit that the company is set to shortly close its next funding round, likely the $1bn round reported on in late February which has not been officially disclosed.
Didi Kuaidi has raised $4.5bn in total, including the amounts accumulated by Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache before they merged to form the company. It closed $3bn from investors including Ping An Ventures, the corporate venturing division of insurance firm Ping An, Alibaba and Tencent in September 2015 at a $3bn valuation.