Rumor: Shanghai Issues First Online Food Delivery Merchant License to Alibaba's Hema
Oriental Morning Post, 3/16/16
The Shanghai municipal government has reportedly issued China's first merchant license for online takeout ordering and food delivery to Yiheng Network Technology, operator of Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA)-backed takeout restaurant brand Hema Waimai and O2O fresh food brand Hema Xiansheng, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Hema Waimai began offering online takeout ordering services in Shanghai's central business district in July 2015, and has a presence on third-party online takeout platforms Ele.me, Meituan Waimai, and Baidu Takeout Delivery.
Although Yiheng is listed as the operator of Hema Xiansheng on the platform's WeChat official account, Taobao (China) Software, a subsidiary of Alibaba, is listed as the developer of the iOS mobile app in the Apple Store. Hema has also reportedly been described as a sole corporation under Alibaba in a job posting for Hema Waimai on online classifieds site Baixing.com, and job postings on Ganji.com directly write the job title as "Alibaba Hema Waimai Delivery Person."
According to China's National Enterprise Credit Information System, Yiheng Network Technology's stock owner is Xiangyi Weilian Technology Development, while RMB 10 mln worth of equity was pledged to Zhejiang Tmall Network, Alibaba's subsidiary and operator of B2C e-commerce site Tmall, in October 2015.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see "Rumor: Alibaba Invests Up to USD 150 Mln to Develop O2O Fresh Food Brand," MD 3/13/16 issue.
Keywords: Hema Waimai food O2O Yiheng Internet license Shanghai Municipal Government Alibaba Group O2O BABA Hema Xiansheng Taobao Software
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