It’s rumored that Chinese group buying service 55Tuan is raising US$ 200 million of Series A funding from Goldman Sachs. Both 55Tuan CEO Xu Maodong and VP Wei Jinghan refused to comment or disclose more details. This is so far the largest funding in Chinese group buying area. Lashou, one of the biggest rival of 55tuan, raised US$ 110 million in Series C.
The funding came after spreading rumors suggesting that 200 of Lashou’s core team in north China market suddenly left for 55Tuan. Xu confirmed this by disclosing that some new employees did come from its competitors given the company offers better option incentive plan.
Although being a late comer in the burgeoning Chinese group buying market, 55tuan has become very aggressive and active recently with mass recruitment and big funding.