The inauguration of HNA Ecological Technology Group in southern city Haikou on March 29 has officially established technology as the 6th pillar of HNA Group’s core services, after HNA Aviation, HNA Holding, HNA Tour, HNA Capital and HNA Logistics.
HNA Ecological Technology Group groups together HNA’s technology-oriented subsidiaries, incorporating HNA Cloud Technology, founded in 2015 and quickly became the sixth major area of the HNA Group’s major operations in less than one year, as well as Hainan Xiaoer Technology (“海南小二科技”), Beijing Hai Chuang Bai Chuan Consulting Service (“北京海创百川”) and several other technology-related firms.
“Our strength lies in shaping our own production means and models based on consumption patterns,” Pu Tong, CEO of the eco-tech group, told 21st Century Business Herald.
The eco-tech company will set up incubation bases in several Chinese cities, making use of HNA group’s existing properties in top-tier cities. The base in each city will have 10,000 square meters of office area to accommodate dozens of startups, according to an insider of the business.
A person connected to HNA Ecological Technology said the group company has started “searching for acquisition targets around the globe”.
According to public information, HNA Group has invested in at least eight companies in 2015, most of which are in the internet sector. The company made a strategic investment of RMB 500 million in the C-round funding of Chinese overseas rental platform Zhubaijia (“住百家”) last September and splashed out hundreds of millions of US dollars to join Chinese search giant Baidu in funding Uber China, followed by another bold investment in Tuniu for USD 500 million.
The conglomerate has also gone beyond travel-related industries as it led a group of HNA subsidiaries in funding sport shows online service LeSports for RMB 1.2 billion, completing the latter’s B-round funding in March that raised RMB 8 billion.
HNA Group gained huge sums of capital through various capital moves. The group has around 10 subsidiaries listed on A Share, H Share and New Third Board markets. The group reporting USD 25.6 billion in total revenue made it to Fortune Magazine’s Top 500 list for the first time in 2015, ranking 464th. (Translated by Jerry)
