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Alibaba launches $161m fund to support mobile app-makers

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Alibaba Group has established a RMB1 billion ($161 million) venture capital fund to support third-party mobile app developers.

It also launched a RMB1 billion low-interest loan program offered via Ant Financial, Alibaba Group's online financial services affiliate. The group, which will provide training to founders through workshops, expects app-makers to incorporate Alibaba's technologies such as location-based services, marketing and online payment into the apps.

"The goal is to make smartphones central to the consumption of everyday services from booking car repairs to buying movie tickets to ordering take-out lunches," according to Alizila, the company's corporate news website. The development program could even help developers introduce consumer credit to local-services apps - Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial this year launched a credit-scoring system called Sesame Credit."

This is part of Alibaba's Baichuan initiative, which was launched last year in order to attract entrepreneurs to build mobile apps around Alibaba's ecosystem. More than 10,000 mobile developers have joined the Baichuan program, the e-commerce company said.

The mobile app fund follows the establishment of the RMB1 billion fund launched by Ant Financial two months ago. The fund targets internet and finance companies.

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