Chinese online rebate and consumer directory website 51Fanli.com announced on its microblog that it has secured $20 million of Series B funding from SIG China Investment. The company has raised eight-digit first-round USD funding jointly led by Qiming Venture Partners and Disney’s venture capital firm Steamboat Ventures in 2011.
51Fanli’s founder and CEO Gary Ge said this round of funding will be used to expand offline rebate services in a bid to construct a marketing platform that integrates various brands and their online/offline retail channels. The company added that its revenue from mobile business has overshadowed that from PCs.
Founded in 2006, 51fanli is an online shopping directory platform offering users shopping rebates. In addition, the site issues discount vouchers and provides price comparisons, vendor ratings, a single account log-in feature that allows users to enter partner sites using their 51Fanli credentials, and online shopper discussion forum.
51Fanli claimed more than 35 million registered users with more than 2 million daily active users and an annual turnover of 10 billion yuan (around $1.6 billion). It has established cooperation with nearly 400 member vendors, including B2C e-commerce sites like JD, Tmall, Taobao, Ctrip, Amazon, Dianping, Yihaodian, Jumei, etc.
The battles in Chinese e-commerce industry is reaching a feverish pitch with strings of e-commerce companies, like JD, Alibaba, Jumei, VipShop, etc. are trying to get more funding from stock markets. Rebate site, an effective means to attract traffic, is getting more attentions from investors.