Chinese cooking community Xiachufang raises US$30M series B from JD, others

Chinese cooking community Xiachufang announced Wednesday that it has raised a series B round to the tune of US$30 million, its first since the company’s 2012 series A. The new round was led by China Growth Capital, with ecommerce giant JD.com and previous investors Ceyuan Ventures and Zhixin Capital also investing.

Xiachufang is an online recipe-sharing community, and that aspect of the company is impressive in its own right. But Xiachufang has attracted such a significant investment because it has parlayed that community into a powerful ecommerce platform that sells cooking supplies and food items via its mobile app. The synergy is obvious: users hop onto the app to find a new recipe they’d like to try, and then they can order ingredients or utensils they may not have on their shelves right from the same app. Xiachufang has already brought in more than a hundred different sellers offering a variety of foods and food-related products.

“At first, Xiachufang hoped to help those eating at home eat better,” said Xiachufang founder Wang Xusheng, “and from the recipe-sharing platform we’ve gradually expanded into ecommerce. After completing this round, we’re going to work harder to mix together content and products, and meet the needs of even more users when it comes to food and everyday home-life products.”

The participation of JD in Xiachufang’s round will also lead to collaboration; in a statement a JD spokesperson said that the company would be helping Xiachufang with selected products and logistics because it likes Xiachufang’s community-meets-ecommerce business model.

With a partner like JD, Xiachufang has a bit of a leg up, but the road forward may still be difficult. China has dozens of mobile food ecommerce competitors, and hungry customers can also buy most food items from major ecommerce outfits like Taobao, too.

(Source: Sina Tech)