Yiguo, a China-based online fresh produce retailer, has secured $300m from Tmall, a business-to-consumer e-commerce platform operated by e-commerce group Alibaba, China Money Network reported today.
Founded in 2005, Yiguo sells fresh food to consumers in 310 cities across 27 Chinese provinces. The company operates a network of independent, cold-chain logistics facilities in 10 cities, allowing it to maintain controlled temperatures for its supply chain.
Customers can order food online and have it delivered within a day in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu, or within two days in other cities.
Following the investment, Yiguo will integrate its offering with Tmall in an effort to see off competitors such as food delivery service JD Daojia. The funding will be used to invest in ExFresh, Yiguo’s cold chain logistics subsidiary, in order to boost infrastructure and expansion.
Alibaba participated in Yiguo’s $200m series C+ round in November 2016 alongside home appliance retailer Suning Commerce and Yunfeng Capital, the private equity firm created by Alibaba’s chairman Jack Ma, as well as undisclosed additional backers.
Yiguo had previously raised $260m in series C funding from Alibaba and investment firm KKR in March 2016. Alibaba and Yunfeng invested an undisclosed amount in the company in 2014, following a commitment of tens of millions of dollars by Alibaba the year before.
Jing Jie, vice-president at Alibaba, said: “With the integration between Tmall and Yiguo.com, ExFresh will provide better cold chain express services for Tmall’s commercial customers.
“We will provide customers with fresh food from 147 countries like the US, Argentina, Norway and Australia. We will also offer plenty of domestic products.”