Cross-border e-commerce site Wish raises new round
Wish, a San Francisco-based cross-border e-commerce app backed by several Asian investors, has completed a Series F round led by Everbright-IDG Industrial Fund.
The size of this round was not disclosed. Other participants include Temasek Holdings, DST Global, Third Point Ventures and Founders Fund. Wish reportedly raised $500 million in November of last year, with Temasek one of the lead investors.
The four-year-old company was founded by former Google and Yahoo employees with a view to connecting Chinese merchants – especially those already selling products on Alibaba Group’s Taobao and TMall – with consumers in the US and Europe. According to China Everbright, the mobile retail penetration rate in the US and Europe is less than 2%, compared to 19% in China.
The company, which has an office in Beijing, uses matching technology to provide a personalized shopping experience, with products recommended based on users' spending habits. As its products - ranging from jackets to jewelry to make-up brushes - are imported from China prices are said to be lower than US-based peers Amazon and Walmart.
Wish previously raised several rounds from the US and Asia-focused investors. GGV Capital was one of the earliest backers, co-leading a $19 million round in April 2014 alongside Formation 8. Two months later, it re-upped in a $50 million round. Other Chinese investors in Wish include legend Capital and online retailer JD.com. In 2015, the company received $500 million from DST Global.
“The Greater China region is important in Wish's strategic business plan. We believe in the Fund’s [Everbright-IDG Industrial Fund] competitive cross-border financial ability, global resource allocation and its experience in building up China’s supply chain and financial ecosystems,” Danny Zhang, co-founder of Wish, said in a statement.
The Everbright-IDG Industrial Fund was jointly launched by IDG Capital and China Everbright with a target corpus of RMB20 billion ($2.9 billion). It seeks M&A, restructuring and spin-off opportunities in emerging economies, across financial technology and internet banking, entertainment, education, e-commerce, and LEDs and semiconductors.
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