Tiantu leads Series C round for China cosmetics retailer

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but the company said on its Weibo microblog that this is the largest investment in China's online skincare space and Meilapp is only start-up in this field valued at more than $1 billion. Several Series B round investors, including Morningside Venture Capital, also participated.

Founded in July 2013, Meilapp is among the first batch to emerge from Tencent Holdings' incubation program. The mobile platform started out by providing make-up tips and has since expanded into other areas, such as skincare, fashion and weight loss.

Last year, the firm raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Morningside, alongside GSR Ventures, IDG Capital Partners and Yunqi Capital. Meilapp then shifted to a customer-to-customer (C2C) e-commerce platform from a social networking site, allowing overseas buyers to sell cosmetics and skincare products online. It examines every product imported from overseas before make deliveries to Chinese consumers.

With the new investment, Meilapp plans to improve its after-sales services. It will build a stronger warehousing and logistics system offshore and maintain sustainable relationships with overseas purchasers. Part of the funding will also go towards improving user experience.

Kanglin Li, a partner at Tiantu Capital, told local media that the firm likes Meilapp's ability to provide customized services and its dedicated team of merchandisers in different countries supplying products to the platform.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Venture
• Consumer
• Expansion
• China
• TMT
• Morningside Technologies
• Venture
• Growth capital
• Consumer