‘China’s AirBNB’ Tujia Acquires Rival Mayi

Tujia.com, which is often dubbed the AirBNB of China, has completed a total acquisition of younger rival Mayi.com, announced Tujia on Thursday.

Neither company has released details on how much the deal was worth, or how Mayi will be restructured under Tujia.

One interesting side-effect of the deal is that 58.com, the country’s biggest classifieds platform, will now own a partial stake in Tujia. 58.com previously held a controlling stake in Mayi.com.

58.com has gone on an investment rampage since their 2013 IPO. The company invested 1.7 billion USD in 14 companies within 18 months of their listing, including a $412 million USD stake in leading autos platform Ganji.com and the $267 million USD acquisition of major real estate listing platform Anjuke.

Tencent owns a 25 percent stake in 58.com. Tujia also counts Ctrip, one of China’s leading travel platforms, among their core investors, as well as Homeaway.com, the U.S. vacation rental platform.

It’s the latest in a continuing spate of consolidations among Chinese tech startups, particularly in the on-demand and O2O sectors. Sluggish economic growth and a more risk-averse investment environment has seen companies come under pressure to consolidate their position in the market.

Unlike the country’s ride-hailing sector, which has largely devolved into a battle between Uber and Didi Chuxing, China still has a number of competitive players in the short-term rental market, meaning that further consolidations could be on the horizon.