2016 was another busy year for Jack Ma and the team at Alibaba. The company posted record-breaking sales numbers, of course, but it also spent the year splashing cash on investments all over the world. Here are the biggest:
Ele.me – US$1.25 billion
Chinese food delivery startup Ele.me probably brought home more of Aliababa’s investment cash than anyone else this year, netting US$1.25 billion from Alibaba and its epayment spin-off Ant Financial in a funding round confirmed in April. The deal also brought Ele.me integration into mobile Taobao and better Alipay integration.
What did Alibaba get out of it? A stake in China’s hottest food delivery app and operational support for its own food delivery service, Koubei.
Lazada – US$1 billion
Alibaba’s biggest acquisition of the year was Southeast Asian ecommerce giant Lazada – it spent US$1 billion to nab a controlling stake in the company. The move gave Alibaba an immediate presence in Southeast Asia, where it one day hopes to generate half of its revenue. It also bolstered Lazada, which sells in in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam but faces challengers in all those locations.
Didi Chuxing – US$4.5 billion*
Alibaba participated in ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing’s massive round this year. The round totaled US$7.3 billion, including US$4.5 billion in new funding, but it’s not clear precisely how much Alibaba invested, because the round also included other major investors like Apple (who kicked in US$1 billion), China Life (who reportedly put in US$600 million), and Tencent. Alibaba’s total investment was probably less than US$1 billion (it wasn’t disclosed, so we don’t know for sure), but it must have seemed like money well spent when a couple months later Didi’s biggest competitor threw up the white flag and sold its China business to Didi.
Magic Leap – US$793 million*
We don’t know precisely how much it kicked in, but Alibaba was the lead investor on American augmented reality startup Magic Leap’s US$793 million series C round early this year. It became clear precisely why when, a few months later, Alibaba started showing off prototypes of an augmented reality shopping experience using Magic Leap’s tech.
This could prove to be one investment Alibaba wishes it could get back, though – it has recently been revealed that Magic Leap’s tech is “way behind” AR competitor Microsoft, and that in at least one case the company straight-up lied about what it was capable of.
Ucar – US$561 million*
Photo credit: Jonathan Kos-Read.
Thought Didi was Alibaba’s only ride-hailing play? Think again. Ali did a little bet-hedging this year, participating in Chinese ride-hailing startup Ucar’s US$561 million series B round. It’s not clear how much of that sum Alibaba contributed, and Ali doesn’t currently own any of the startup’s shares, having shifted its nearly 10 percent stake to a couple of VC funds. Ucar’s share of China’s ride-hailing market is reportedly minor compared to that of Didi Chuxing, but since Alibaba has financial ties to both, it would appear to be in good shape no matter which company emerges on top.
Weibo – US$135 million
Alibaba increased its investment in Chinese microblogging giant Weibo this year with a US$135 million stock purchase. The deal increased Alibaba’s stake in Weibo by 1.4 percent (it’s now up to 31.5 percent). Having paid a price of US$45 per share, Jack Ma and company may not be particularly happy to see that Weibo’s stock is currently down to US$40/share, but the company has been posting impressive numbers recently, so we doubt anybody in Hangzhou is all that worried.
Alibaba invested in other companies this year, of course – tons of them! But at least among disclosed rounds, these are far and away the biggest. And just in these investments alone, it’s likely that Alibaba spent north of US$4 billion in total. And given that this year the company moved US$17.7 billion in GMV on Singles Day alone, don’t expect Alibaba’s investment pace to slow much in 2017.
* Indicates that this sum is the investment round total; the precise amount contributed by Alibaba was undisclosed.
This post Alibaba’s biggest investments this year appeared first on Tech in Asia.
from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/alibabas-biggest-investments-2016
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