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Oak Investment backs Chinese online shopping engine

  • Alvina Yuen
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B5M, a Chinese shopping online platform, has raised $7.1 milion through a Series A funding round led by Oak Investment Partners and e-commerce platform operator Giosis Holdings.

B5M, which means "help me buy" in Chinese, will use the money for website development, innovation and marketing. Allan Kwan, who formerly led Yahoo's search business in Asia Pacific, will represent Oak Investment on B5M's board, alongside Giosis' Youngbae Ku, who founded the Korean auction site GMarket.

Founded in 2007, B5M has similar operations to Taobao. The company provides information and reviews of consumer products, as well as shopping-related web articles, with an emphasis on search and data mining technologies.

Commenting on the investment, Ifty Ahmed, a general partner for Oak Investment who specializes in the internet and new media sector, said the Chinese e-commerce market has poses both opportunities and challenges for investors. He added the partnerships with entrepreneurs with a background in e-marketing will help create a powerful player in the fast-growing sector.

Oak Investment's previous e-commerce investments include the purchase of a 10% stake in GMarket, which was later sold to Yahoo for some $60 million in 2006.

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