Tencent Holdings and its portfolio on-demand services platform Meituan Dianping have reportedly led a $200 million financing in Beijing-based B2B liquor trading firm Yijiupi.
The investment round is said to value the online liquor retailer at $1.1 billion, allowing it an entry into the unicorn club. China Everbright Limited and previous backer Source Code Capital participated in the round.
The proceeds of the investment will be used for diversifying platform categories, improving the warehouse system as well as expanding to more geographies, according to reports in the Chinese media.
Yijiupi raised its $100 million Series C funding in 2016. The investment was led by Shanghai-based Greenwoods Asset Management, with participation from Source Code Capital, Light House Capital, Meituan-Dianping and HG Capital.
The company had previously secured around $37 million.
Established in 2014, Yijiupi has covered 83 cities in 26 provinces across China as of June, local media reports cited the company’s data. Yijiupi also claims a current monthly gross merchandise value (GMV) of more than 1 billion yuan through 40,000 SKUs, and expects the GMV in 2018 will hit 20 billion yuan.
Yijiupi was reported to take a big bet on the development of B2B business in China. More developed markets like the US have yielded several large B2B companies with tens of billions of dollars in valuation. Meanwhile in China, the market is dominated by traditional channels with some 6.8 million small stores, creating scope for larger B2B supply chains to be born.