China-based real estate services provider Lianjia has raised RMB 6bn ($927m) in a series B round featuring internet companies Tencent and Baidu, China Money Network reported today citing local media reports.
The round was led by Huasheng Capital, a private equity fund managed by merchant bank China Renaissance Partners, and values Lianjia, also known as Homelink, at $6.2bn, Bloomberg reported yesterday. Lianjia has not disclosed details of earlier external funding.
Founded in 2001 as a bricks-and-mortar estate agent, Lianjia now runs a real estate management and asset management business that encompasses some 5,000 branches across China and an online portal that lists around 56 million properties.
The company has also set up a real estate finance unit and had lent about $46m for down payments as of the end of February 2016, it told Bloomberg.
Lianjia completed RMB 700bn of transactions during 2015 and is raising venture capital in order to support strategic acquisitions as it looks to transition to a more online-focused business. It reportedly plans to launch an initial public offering in the near future.