Alibaba invests in three ecommerce disruptors via its Hong Kong Entrepreneurs fund
Alibaba has invested in three startups in Hong Kong, via its non-for-profit Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund.
The small investments are the first since the company set up the fund in November 2015, which was set up to help entrepreneurs from the Hong Kong area.
The three investments represent three very different aspects of the online shopping market. Yeechoo is an online designer clothes rental service, Shopline is a cloud computing business for small and medium sized retailers and GoGoVan is a platform that connects an inner city logistics network.
Joseph Tsai, executive vice-chairman of Alibaba Group and director of the Fund, said: “These companies embrace technology to create value for the society, and we are excited to work with them and help them grow their businesses with resources available from the Fund and Alibaba Group. The entrepreneurs behind these companies also exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit in Hong Kong. We look forward to supporting more aspiring entrepreneurs in Hong Kong in the future.”
According to Alibaba, it selected the three companies from a list of more than 200 applications and the selection process involved meetings with management, as well as due diligence reviews.
Alibaba has been getting out its chequebook frequently this year, the most high profile instance being its acquisition of a majority stake in Lazada in Southeast Asia.
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Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational e-commerce, retail, Internet, AI and technology conglomerate founded in 1999.
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