China-based e-commerce platform Xiaoqule closed a $108m series A round yesterday that included subsidiaries of insurance firm Ping An and quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group, China Money Network reported.
Ping An Ventures and SIG Asia were joined by GGV Capital, which revealed news of the funding on its QQ account, as well as Vertex Ventures, Matrix Partners, Shunwei Capital, GF Xinde Investment Management, Zhongwei Capital and ZhenFund.
Xiaocule launched an e-commerce platform in August this year that concentrates on geographical communities, enabling users in the same areas to club together in order to buy larger, more cost-effective quantities of goods such as food and household products.
Once they have been bought, items are then delivered to storage boxes that have been installed by the company in the area. It currently covers some 5,800 communities in 30 cities spread across 14 Chinese provinces.
The series A proceeds will be used for geographic expansion as well as recruitment and the upgrading of Xiaocule’s supply chain capabilities.
