Tag Archives: Yelp

FUND RAISING: O2O Wars Drive Meituan Back to Market

Bottom line: Intensifying competition in dining-related O2O services is pressuring Meituan to raise more funds, and the company should seriously consider a strategic alliance with Alibaba.

O2O dining wars dog Meituan

Online-to-offline (O2O) services have become the flavor of the day on China’s Internet, and take-out dining has emerged at the epicenter of a stampede by all 3 of China’s leading Internet companies to develop the market. Over the last 2 years, leading search company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) have all launched major initiatives in the space, collectively pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the area.

Against that backdrop, the independent Meituan is emerging as an orphan in the space, since it’s the only player without a major backer despite its status as China’s top group buying site. That could explain the latest reports that say Meituan has returned to financial markets and is in the process of raising up to $2 billion in new funds, less than a year after it raised $700 million in another massive cash-raising exercise. Read Full Post…

FUND RAISING: Dianping Inches Towards IPO, 55Tuan Disappears

Bottom line: Dianping’s bigger-than-expected fund-raising underscores its popularity among investors, and could pressure it to make an IPO worth $1 billion or more this year to capitalize on positive market sentiment.

Dianping closes $850 mln funding

China’s online group buying space could be closer to getting its first IPO, with word that Dianping, one of the industry’s 2 leaders, has just raised a whopping $850 million in its fifth funding round. The massive funding has actually been in the works since late last year, but kept growing as more investors clamored for a piece of this hot company. The move sends the latest signal that Dianping may be eying an IPO later this year that could raise up to $1 billion or more.

Word of the funding comes as a more advanced IPO plan has gone missing from smaller rival 55Tuan, which was hoping to become China’s first publicly listed group buying site. 55Tuan made a public filing for a New York IPO back in January, and a later filing indicated it planned to sell its shares and begin trading on February 25. But that date has come and gone with no listing, and there’s still no word on the reason for the delays more than 2 weeks later. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: WeChat Draws Advertisers, Food Delivery, Youth

Bottom line: Tencent’s strong early showing for a new WeChat-based advertising service and its investment in a take-out dining service reflect building momentum in its drive to build WeChat into a major new profit center.

BMW, Coke launch ad campaigns on WeChat

A couple of media reports are shining a spotlight on Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) WeChat, and some of the new steps it is taking to monetize the hugely popular service that is rapidly expanding beyond its roots as a mobile messaging service. At the same time, another report from Tencent itself is providing some insight into who exactly uses WeChat. It should come as no surprise that the report shows WeChat’s biggest fans are young and mostly male users, which are some of the most attractive targets for the online merchants and advertisers that Tencent wants to do more business on the platform. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Meituan Gets New Funds, 2015 IPO Looming?

Bottom line: Dianping or Meituan is likely to mount an IPO bid next year, in a deal that could value either at around $5-10 billion and win a premium as China’s first group buying site to list.

Meituan gets new mega-funding

China’s newly consolidated group buying sector could be close to making its first IPO, with word that leading operator Meituan is on the cusp of landing a massive $700 million in new funding. Such a huge amount would be the company’s fourth round of funding since 2010, and would follow not long after it reportedly raised $300 million earlier this year. That kind of funding frenzy often comes just before an IPO, which leads me to expect we could finally see Meituan become China’s first publicly listed group buying Internet company with a New York IPO perhaps in the first half of next year. Read Full Post…

Meituan Gets New Funds, Eyes IPO

Meituan raises $100 mln

After a 4 year cycle that saw China’s group buying sector first boom and then crash spectacularly, we could finally see an IPO soon from Meituan, which has emerged as the industry’s leader and a true survivor. Media are reporting that Meituan is close to getting $100 million in new funding — an admirable feat in the current climate that has seen investors largely shun the group of former high flyers. That investment would come just weeks after leading Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) purchased 20 percent of Dianping, another strong player that has emerged in the group buying space. (previous post) Read Full Post…

Weibo: Vancl’s New Clothes, Dianping’s New Partner

Lei Jun, Chen Nian talk threads at Vancl

UPDATE: Since originally writing this post, Tencent has announced it will purchase 20 percent of Dianping for an undisclosed amount. (company announcement)

Talk involving major new investments in online clothier Vancl and restaurant ratings site Dianping was  buzzing through the blogosphere this past week, reflecting the many new partnerships that are quickly forming amid intense competition plaguing the overheated Internet space.

Vancl has been racing to find profits before it runs out of cash, and recently received a lifeline in the form of $100 million in new funding from a group led by Lei Jun, the marketing-savvy co-founder of trendy smartphone maker Xiaomi.  Lei Jun and Vancl CEO Chen Nian engaged in a round of online banter this week on their microblogs that could hint at some of the new directions and tactics that Vancl will take as it searches for the elusive business model that can move it into the black. Read Full Post…

Baidu Finishes Nuomi, Tencent Eyes Dianping

Baidu buys Renren’s remaining stake in Nuomi

A couple of Internet M&A deals are in the news as we head into the final days before the Lunar New Year, with word that leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has purchased more of group buying site Nuomi, while top Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700) may be eying restaurant ratings site Dianping. The first deal could reflect a new pattern for Baidu, which has mostly bought controlling stakes but made few outright acquisitions in its recent spree of major purchases. Meantime, the latter deal would look good for Tencent if it was really happening, though I have major doubts about whether it is. Read Full Post…

Weibo: TCL Hypes Imax JV, Everyone Hypes Woz

The microblogging space was buzzing with a bit of the past, the present and the future last week, with executives from some of China’s top gadget and Internet companies all hyping their various agendas in cyberspace. In a blast from the past, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak was all over the place in microblog postings from a number of tech companies executives he visited on a trip to China.

In the present, meanwhile, TCL (HKEx: 1070; Shenzhen: 000100) Chairman Li Dongsheng was at the CES trade show in Las Vegas and also attended a board meeting of Imax (NYSE: IMAX), using both opportunities to hype a new home theater tie-up with the US-based large screen movie format specialist. In the future, Long Wei, the low-key founder of leading online restaurant critic site Dianping, was hyping his company’s recent global expansion, perhaps hinting at more to come. Read Full Post…

Pactera Bows From NY, Dianping Waits

Pactera signs privatization deal

I’m always looking for signs that the overseas IPO market for Chinese tech firms may finally be warming after a long winter now in its third year, but the latest signs from privatizing IT outsourcing firm Pactera (Nasdaq: PACT) and restaurant ratings site Dianping are hardly encouraging. Pactera has just announced it has formally signed a buyout offer that will take the company private, making it the latest in a long string of Chinese companies to de-list from New York. Meantime, media are reporting that Dianping, a dynamic site often likened to US site Yelp (NYSE: YELP), doesn’t plan to list for the next 5 years. Read Full Post…

Jiumei, Dianping Eye Investors, Mobile 酒美网和大众点评网为上市蓄势

On this day before Christmas, I’ll take a look at 2 of China’s more interesting privately held Internet plays, online wine seller Jiumei and restaurant ratings site Dianping, which are making innovative new moves that could make them attractive investments when they make eventual public offerings. In Jiumei’s case, the company is forming an interesting tie-up with European banking giant Rothschild to create a product for Chinese who want to invest in wine. Meantime at Dianping, founder and CEO Zhang Tao has given a rare interview in which he reveals his company is making big investments in the mobile Internet in a bid to translate its current desktop PC dominance to the fast-growing mobile space.

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