Daily Digital Pulse of China: Alibaba & WeChat

China E-Commerce

Alibaba’s Investment Fund One Of China’s Largest

The investment fund backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba has become the country’s largest. The fund - Tianhong Zenglibau - is linked to the third-party payment service Alipay, and reached 185.3 billion Yuan at end of 2013. To put the fund’s growth into perspective, the fund totaled less than 10 billion Yuan at some stage throughout 2013. Alipay users have the ability to transfer funds from their Alipay account into a Yuebao account where the money is subsequently invested into the currency fund to earn interest. The fund currently has returns of 6.7%, but forecasts suggest that the fund is over performing and long-term returns of 4.5% are to be expected./p>

Source: Want China Times

China E-Commerce

WeChat to Face Tough Competition in 2014

WeChat needs to start watching its back, as other companies are planning on working harder than ever to take down the biggest mobile messaging app in China. It has been told by one of its employees that Alibaba is looking to combat WeChat in four key areas: telecom services, the actual messaging aspect of the app, online vendors, and celebrity accounts. Momo, an app used to acquaint nearby strangers, is also gaining traction – more than 80 million users have registered for its services – a milestone that has made the app profitable. Line, the popular Japanese messaging, is also working its way into China by partnering up with Chinese companies, including Qihoo 360 and Baidu.

Source: Want China Times


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