China's Meituan-Dianping raises $4b in new round
Meituan-Dianping, China's largest online-to-offline (O2O) local services platform, has raised $4 billion in a Series C round of funding led by existing investor Tencent Holdings.
The Priceline Group came to this round - which valued the Chinese company at about $30 billion - as a new investor. It was joined by Sequoia Capital, GIC Private, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, TrustBridge Partners, Coatue Management, IDG Capital, Tiger Global Management and China-UAE Investment Cooperation Fund.
Meituan-Dianping was created in October 2015 after a merger between Meituan and Dianping - both of which had received substantial private equity and strategic funding. The combined platform then raised a $3.3 billion round, then valuing the company at $15 billion.
Through the platform, customers can access various types of services, including restaurant reservation, food delivery, hotel and travel bookings, and entertainment. At present, it hosts more than five million local merchants across 2,800 Chinese cities. It claims to process 21 million orders every day, with 280 million total customers in 2016.
With the new investment, Meituan-Dianping plans to increase its platform efficiency by leveraging artificial intelligence-based and analytics-driven technology. In addition, it will focus on expanding its travel and leisure vertical - Meituan Travel - through its existing partnership with Agoda.com, an online accommodation reservation unit under The Priceline Group.
Meituan Travel, which has been in the market for less than one year, claims to be the second largest hotel reservation platform in China, with 36% market share and a record 1.47 million hotel room nights sold on a single day.
"Our commercial relationship between Agoda.com and Meituan-Dianping will help each company benefit from the other's expertise and capitalize on the opportunities presented by China's exceptionally large travel market," Todd Henrich, global head of corporate development at the Priceline, said in a statement.
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