Hard on the heels of Airbnb raising US$1.5 billion financing that lifted its estimated value to US$25.5 billion, China’s short-term rental service Xiaozhu has received US$60 million for its Series C financing round.
This is Xiaozhu’s largest funding yet, and the investment was led by Joy Capital and followed by Morningside Capital, CITIC Capital and Jade Capital.
Xiaozhu began its online listing in 2012. Its service network covers 200 Chinese cities, including over 20 major cities. “As an epitome of short-term rentals under the sharing economy concept,
Xiaozhu has become the leader in the sector after three years of exploration and development. The funds from our latest financing round will be mainly used to build up our brand, develop new products, recruit staff and improve user experience,” Xiaozhu’s CEO Chi Chen said.
Joy Capital’s founding partner Xiao Li said: “The sharing economy has already had a huge impact on every area of China’s online business sector. We foresee the sharing economy revolutionizing the traditional accommodation industry and have decided to invest in Xiaozhu. Meanwhile,
Xiaozhu is the only company in China offering short-term rentals with the Airbnb model and its rapid growth over the last three years has confirmed that the sharing economy will bring big changes for the China’s accommodation industry.”
Xiaozhu has also partnered with Ant Financial Group’s Sesame Credit to pioneer the use of personal credit in the short-term rental industry.(Translation by David)
