MiQi, With New VC Funding, Aims to be China’s Cosmetics Store

The frontpage of MiQi's cosmetics brand channel.

The Chinese e-commerce site MiQi.cn, which specializes in cosmetics, has just completed a round of funding from DT Capital. It’s valued, in the Chinese media, at an unspecified “tens of millions” of RMB.

MiQi started out – upon its launch late last year – in the cut-throat group buy sector, before recently metamorphosing into a proper e-commerce platform. It now features brand channels and official partnerships with major cosmetics labels.

Its CEO, Ma Qiang, said that the capital injection would be used for brand building and customer service, as was a separate round that was completed in April of this year. MiQi now claims well over a million registered users.

Another use for the money is, inevitably, expansion. Ma Qiang told Chinese tech site DoNews that, with the help of DT Capital, MiQi aims to grow and restructure its site in a manner similar to the US cosmetics giant SkinStore. Indeed, the American firm has a local site at SkinStoreChina.com, so that’s a direct rival. It claims to have 7,000 products from 300 global brands.

The last time we encountered MiQi, it was at the heart of rumors that the US daily deals site LivingSocial was looking to acquire it, as a means of entering China. That looks increasingly unlikely now that the site has even more backing, and also as it is shifting away from the group buy sector.

[Source: DoNews – article in Chinese]