Chinese home-sharing unicorn Xiaozhu.com has secured nearly USD 300 million in its latest financing round. Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital and AdvanTech Capital were the lead investors, while GIC Private, Joy Capital, Morningside Venture Capital and Capital Today also joined the investment. Taihe Capital continued to act as the exclusive financial advisor.
Kelvin Chen, co-founder and CEO of Xiaozhu, said the company would double down on the security system and service quality with the funding.
In May, Xiaozhu partnered with Ant Financial to launch smart locks for identification and has implemented the solution across 40 Chinese cities in a short span of time. At present, the platform has managed to deploy burglar alarms, fire alarms and gas sensors, among other security devices, in multiple cities.
The platform's service capability has also come under scrutiny with the robust growth in supply and demand. It has been working on a service ecosystem for the home-sharing sector since 2015, and has gathered no less than 5,000 housekeepers and thousands of photographers so far to serve home owners. In April, Xiaozhu launched its host-oriented brand – Rental Community – to lower the threshold of shared accommodation.
In this year alone, Xiaozhu has been diversifying its operations with various initiatives. In March, it announced a global strategic partnership with Agoda to innovate B&B experiences for worldwide consumers. In April, it linked up with Alibaba's travel brand Fliggy to provide post-pay service for the house-sharing industry and high-quality inventories for Fliggy users. In July, it signed with China’s Hainan province to boost rural tourism via home sharing, and in August, it agreed to list its domestic rentals on Alibaba's Xianyu platform.
