Tencent leads round for Chinese rural e-commerce site

Mmb claims to be the only platform of its kind serving "grassroots groups," such as farmers and rural dwellers, migrant workers, and lower income urban residents. It estimates there are 500 million such groups.

The company's TMall store offers everything from clothing to jewelry to electronic appliances, and has 8 million daily users. Mmb was founded in 2006 in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, and now employs 2,000 people with additional offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The company says it has posted six consecutive years of 300% sales growth, with turnover reaching nearly RMB20 billion in 2013. An IPO is planned within three years.

Far East Holding Group, Sequoia and Tencent all invested in Mmb between 2007 and 2012, committing more than RMB400 million ($65 million) between them.

The company said in a statement that the new capital will be used to build a nationwide warehouse network as well as for investment in products and services, R&D and marketing. The commitment to logistics is a common theme among e-commerce players keen to expand their reach into China's hinterlands.

China had 262.6 million migrant workers as of year-end 2012, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Most originate from the country's central and western regions and 163.6 million seek jobs away from home lasting more than six months. Average per capita monthly income was RMB2,290.

The government expects 60% of China's near 1.4 billion population to be living in cities by 2020 and last week it announced ambitious spending plans intended to ease the drastic side effects of this mass urbanization, social and environmental. At present 54% of Chinese live in cities but only 36% are registered urban residents able to access basic social services.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Technology
• Greater China
• Technology
• Taiwan (China)
• Growth capital
• Tencent