Tencent leads $350 million investment in Koudai Gouwu

Koudai Gouwu, a Chinese mobile shopping portal, today announced a huge US$350 million series C funding round led by Tencent and Tiger Fund, followed by H Capital, Vy Capital, Falcon Edge, and DST, according to the company’s official Weibo account. Of the total amount, Tencent pitched in US$145 million for a 10 percent stake in the company. On the surface, Koudai is a typical Chinese marketplace with a nice looking mobile website and app with an emphasis on fashion products, but it also has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Alibaba’s record-breaking US IPO may give the impression that the company has the e-commerce market in China sewn up, but there are plenty of fast-growing competitors with an eye on disrupting the top dog. Koudai Gouwu (known as Pocket Shopping in English) is one such company, and it just announced a significant $350 million Series C funding round, as Technode first spotted. Notably, the round was led by Tencent, Alibaba’s biggest rival, which put in $145 million. Other investors included Tiger Fund, H Capital, Vy Capital, Falcon Edge, and Yuri Milner’s DST Group. Koudai Gouwu did not reveal what valuation the round was made at, or how much equity was exchanged. Koudai Gouwu is a mobile-focused shopping marketplace that lets merchants sell direct to buyers, it earns revenue from fees for lead generation and sales commissions. It also integrates with WeChat, Tencent’s mobile messaging services that dominates China and claims 438 million monthly users worldwide, to enable retails to set up accounts and use the service to market their products.