Tongcheng Life, a China-based group buying platform backed by corporates Bertelsmann, Joyy, Legend Holdings, LY and Tencent, has merged with Linlinyi, a peer that counts retailer Suning as an investor, 36Kr reported on Friday.
Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), a regional investment vehicle for media conglomerate Bertelsmann, joined Xianghe Capital and Oriza Holdings to provde hundreds of millions of dollars in series C-plus funding for the merged company as part of the deal.
Tongcheng Life and Linlinyi both operate online platforms that enable groups of local users to purchase groceries in bulk to secure discounts. Tongcheng Life was formed in 2018 by LY, an online travel agent also known as Tongcheng, while Linlinyi was founded the previous year.
Tongcheng Life raised $200m in a June 2020 series C round led by social media platform Joyy that included BAI and Legend Capital, the venture capital firm spun off by conglomerate Legend Holdings, as well as Engage Capital, GSR Ventures, Oriza Holdings, Welight Capital and Tongcheng Capital. It was unclear whether the latter represents LY.
Legend Capital led a $100m series B round for the company in September 2019 that also featured BAI, Engage Capital and ZhenFund.
The latter three had joined Welight Capital, Oriza Holdings and GSR for an eight-figure renminbi round for Tongcheng Life in June 2019, a month after a similarly-sized investment by fruit supplier Baiguoyuan, Tongcheng Capital, ZhenFund, Welight and Oriza.
Tongcheng Life received $1.5m in funding in November 2018 from LY’s Zhongchuang Fund, the same vehicle that returned a month later to join internet group Tencent for an eight-figure renminbi round.
Linlinyi secured $30m in a series A round led by Capital Today and backed by Suning, which participated through an undisclosed fund, as well as Source Code Capital, Gaorong Capital and Sequoia Capital China, in January 2019, implying it had then raised a total of $100m.
Source Code Capital and Gaorong Capital had previously co-led a $10m round for Linlinyi in late 2018 with participation from Sequoia Capital China, reportedly an existing backer.
