Big box retailer Walmart made a $50m strategic investment yesterday in New Dada, a China-based grocery e-commerce joint venture between e-commerce firm JD.com and logistics services provider Dada.
New Dada operates a grocery e-commerce platform that uses crowdsourced workers to provide local on-demand delivery to users in more than 300 Chinese cities. It has a user base of more than 25 million registered customers.
The investment was announced the day after an agreement whereby New Dada will offer two-hour delivery to customers within a 3km radius of more than 20 of Walmart’s 426 branches in China. The number of Walmart stores using the service is expected to double by the end of 2016.
Philip Kuai, chief executive of New Dada, said: “Combining New Dada’s unparalleled delivery network with Walmart stores means consumers will enjoy convenient access to a wide range of high-quality goods delivered to their homes and offices in record time.
“We look forward to deepening our cooperation with Walmart as China’s O2O (online-to-offline) retail industry continues to evolve and grow.”
Founded in 2014, Dada raised $300m from investors including DST Global and Sequoia Capital in January 2016 at a $1bn valuation.
JD took a 47.4% stake in Dada in April this year, investing $200m and transferring assets from its JD Daojia O2O subsidiary. Walmart acquired a 5% stake in JD two months later.
– Photo courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.