Shopline, the Hong Kong-based startup that raised a US$1.2 million seed funding round last year has secured a pre-series A round backed by Alibaba’s new Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, the company said today.
Managed by Shanghai’s Gobi Partners, the Alibaba fund is currently investing in its first batch of Hong Kong startups. Neither Shopline nor Alibaba disclosed the amount of the investment, but Tech in Asia confirmed that Alibaba does not have a majority stake in the startup.
All about ecommerce
At first glance, Shopline and Alibaba would seem to be competitors. The startup helps businesses or individuals set up ecommerce services on their own websites, rather than hosting their goods on sites like Taobao or eBay.
Shopline has about 60,000 merchants using its service.
It’s a model that would be up for tough competition in markets like mainland China, but Shopline has focused on Hong Kong and Taiwan, to great success. It has also developed a presence in Southeast Asia. According to the company, it currently has some 60,000 merchants on its platform, and has seen a fivefold increase in business over the past year.
Alibaba’s pitch for its entrepreneurs fund is “to make it easy to do business anywhere.” Keeping with that philosophy, Shopline co-founder and CEO Tony Wong said in a statement that the new round would enable the company to beef up its staff, further develop its ecommerce offerings, and target new customers.
Tony tells Tech in Asia that the company is also looking to explore cross-border sales – namely Hong Kong and Taiwanese merchants selling to mainland customers – further down the road.
The Hong Kong Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund has HKD 1 billion (US$130 million) to play with, and its main focuses include ecommerce and logistics, as well as others such as cloud computing. The fund also put some cash into “Uber for vans” startup Gogovan and designer apparel rental site Yeechoo, it said today.
Shopline’s previous round of investment came from a number of sources, including 500 Startups, Ardent Capital, SXE Ventures, East Ventures, and COENT Venture Partners.
Editing by Steven Millward
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