Chinese O2O delivery startup Zhai.me raises undisclosed seed round

It is a truth universally acknowledged that by and large, college students are lazy. Chinese startup Zhai.me knows this. And off the back of that knowledge, the company has managed to raise a round of seed funding “in the millions” of RMB, according its college-aged founder Sun Gaofeng. The source and specific amount of the funding have not been disclosed.

Zhai.me is an O2O ecommerce site that allows Chinese students to buy just about anything online and get it delivered to them on demand. The company partners with shops near college campuses and then lists some of their stock online and allows students to buy it for immediate or scheduled delivery. Everything from food to wireless routers is on offer at the site, but for the moment its scope is pretty limited: it covers just 25 Shanghai colleges, and some of them still have precious few shopping options.

Founder Sun Gaofeng knows the college scene in Shanghai well, having himself been a student at Shanghai Jiaotong University before he suspended his studies to pursue a startup. And Zhai.me is far from his first; Sun has been involved early in a number of other Chinese startups including ecommerce convenience store 59store.

Zhai.me’s recent infusion of seed cash should mean the company has a chance to expand its offerings in Shanghai, and perhaps move into other cities as well. But there’s no denying that the company faces a difficult road forward; O2O services are popping up all over the place in China and options for online ordering are abundant (especially when it comes to food items). Zhai.me’s focus on the college crowd could be what sets it apart from the pack, but it could also ultimately limit the company’s growth potential.

(Source: Sohu Tech)