E-commerce firm Alibaba has co-led a $300m series D round for China-based cross-border online retail platform Xiaohongshu that valued it at more than $3bn, Kr36 reported yesterday.
Internet group Tencent also participated in the round, along with venture capital firms GGV Capital, GSR Ventures and ZhenFund as well as, according to VC firm Tiantu Capital’s WeChat account, Tiantu, Genesis Capital and entrepreneur Adrian Cheng.
Also known as Little Red Book, Xiaohongshu began life as an online portal where users could review items they had bought in other countries. However, the app’s popularity led to the company branching out into direct e-commerce, allowing users to buy high-grade goods internationally.
The platform, which has more than 100 million users, also has a tool that helps compile shopping itineraries for foreign trips, and allows users to post blogs, photos or videos of their trips.
Xiaohongshu intends to open its first live store in the city of Shanghai next month, and is diversifying into Chinese-made items. It may also benefit from the Chinese government’s decision yesterday to cut import tariffs on a large range of goods.
The latest funding comes after a $120m series C round in March 2016 featuring Tencent, ZhenFund, GGV Capital and GSR Ventures that valued Xiaohongshu at $900m pre-money.
The company raised an undisclosed seven-figure dollar amount in a ZhenFund-backed series A round in 2014, before GGV led its $10m series B round the following year.