Rumor: Alibaba Financial to Invest in P2P Finance Platform PPDai
Netease Tech, 11/13/13
An industry source has revealed that Alibaba Financial, the small and medium enterprise (SME) loan arm of Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group, plans to enter the P2P market through a strategic investment of approximately USD 35 mln in P2P lending platform PPDai, operated by Shanghai Paipaidai Financial Information Service Co., Ltd.
PPDai loan services include an e-commerce division, providing e-commerce-focused loans for merchants on Alibaba's C2C & B2C e-commerce site Taobao. Transaction volume from PPDai's e-commerce division accounts for more than one-third of total company transaction volume. Upon completion of investment from Alibaba Financial, Alibaba may integrate related data with PPDai.
PPDai was established in August of 2007 and is headquartered in Shanghai. The company operates a P2P pure credit non-guaranteed loan network platform with approximately 2 mln registered users. More than 50,000 micro enterprises have used the company's services, with annual financial transaction volume expected to exceed RMB 1 bln in 2013. Sequoia Capital invested USD 2.5 mln in PPDai during the company's first round of funding in December of last year.
Keywords: financial services PPDai Paipaidai e-commerce Taobao Internet investment P2P Alibaba Group Alibaba Financial