China’s Airbnb Clone Xiaozhu Secures $60M USD Series C Funding

As home-rental pioneer Airbnb is closing a whopping $1.5 billion USD round, one of its Chinese clones Xiaozhu – “little piggy” in Chinese – announced today that it has secured $60 million USD in Series C funding led by JOY Capital, and followed by Morningside ventures, CITIC Capital and Heyu Capital. The funding will be invested in improving the user experience, staffing, R&D, and brand, according to Chen Chi, CEO of the company.

The Beijing-based site resembles Airbnb, a C2C platform, in offering daily rental and short-term rooms. However Xiaozhu, like most Chinese Airbnb clones, resembles more of a B2C model where landlords can rent out the whole flat to avoid bunking with a stranger.

Founded by Chen Chi and Wang Liantao, two execs from Ganji-backed Airbnb clone Mayi.com, Xiaozhu has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2012. The company now claims to have home stay options in more than 200 cities around the country, up from 160 cities just one year ago. They also claim to have established offices in 20 cities.

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