According to a filing seen by a media-house, Alibaba has given Lazada another US $845.44 million in funding as the e-commerce company tries to fend off growing competition in Southeast Asia.
Our calculations show that the Chinese tech giant had already contributed $5.99 billion to Lazada prior to this round, including US $1 billion in 2016 to acquire a controlling interest.
Lazada is a part of the Global Digital Business Group of Alibaba, which also encompasses AliExpress, Trendyol, and Daraz.
Analysts previously told a media-house that Alibaba’s choice to split into six units could aid the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform in becoming “more decentralized and thus more agile,” opening the door for a potential IPO.
According to a recent report from venture builder Momentum Works, Lazada ranked second among Southeast Asian e-commerce platforms in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV), which came to US $20.1 billion, last year. With US $47.9 billion, Shopee took first place.
Due to the upping of their game, companies like TikTok Shop, both now face new competition. One of its fastest-growing markets, Southeast Asia, will receive billions of dollars in investment, according to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s earlier statements this year.
For its international e-commerce division, Alibaba is rumored to be considering a possible US IPO. The Chinese business is already preparing to list its retail, logistics, and cloud businesses separately.
As the government begins to address important issues like market dominance, China has begun to loosen regulations on the country’s largest tech companies.
