Alibaba Group Holdings has closed a RMB267 million (US$40 million) series-C round of funding for grocery eCommerce platform Shandiangou.
As part of the transaction, Alibaba and Shandiangou will co-operate on traffic flows and logistics. Shandiangou (“shopping with lightning speed”) will let Alibaba users access its platform via mobile apps to buy groceries from local convenience stores with one-hour delivery.
Founded in 2014, the Hangzhou-based startup was launched by two former Alibaba employees, Wang Yongsen and Wu Qiangqiang. It claims to have a presence in five major cities in China with seven million users and daily orders of up to 50,000. It plans to expand into 10 cities at the end of the year.
When it launched, Shandiangou received an undisclosed series-A round from Matrix Partners China and Yuanjing Capital. This was followed by a $25 million series-B funding round completed last year, led by Shunwei Capital Partners and H Capital with participation by Matrix and Yuanjing.