Renren invests $40 million in Chinese stock market social network

Snowball (in Chinese: 雪球; XueQiu), a social network and information portal for investors in China, has secured a US$40 million series C round of funding led by Renren (NYSE:RENN) with participation from Sequoia Capital and Morningside Capital, according to Sina Tech.

The company’s main site allows investors to examine data across US, Hong Kong, and Chinese stock markets, along with several bonds, funds, trusts, and Bitcoin. Users can get alerts, news bulletins, and price changes. They can also follow other investors and communicate with them. Snowball’s apps serve similar functions. The company is not a broker, though, so users cannot use it to actually trade stocks, yet.

In recent months, China has gradually been opening up its domestic stock markets that were previously off limits to foreign investors. The Shanghai Stock Exchange is the world’s fifth-largest. The Chinese government hopes to boost local stocks with foreign cash, which means more investors and prospective investors will be keen to seek out a service like Snowball.

With this latest investment, Snowball will work toward a broker system that will allow members to buy and sell stocks on its website and apps. It’s unclear what role Renren will play, but some of the social features could be integrated between the two networks.

Other startups are looking to capitalize on the opportunity as well. iMaibo is another finance-oriented social network operating along similar lines with plans to allow users to actually trade stocks in the coming months. 8 Securities, a Hong Kong based wealth management app that’s gaining serious traction in Japan, also has its eyes set on China.

See: As internet banking takes off in China, this financial product search engine secures $60M investment

(Source: Sina Tech)