Xiaozhu raises $300m in new financing round

Chinese home-sharing company Xiaozhu Inc announced on Wednesday that it has raised $300 million in its latest round of financing, with Alibaba Group-backed Yunfeng Fund leading the investment.

Other investors include Chinese innovation-driven Advantech Capital, Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), Joy Capital, Morningside Venture Capital and Capital China.

"In the future, we expect that more people could become participants and beneficiaries of the sharing economy. We hope to form an open and collaborative social system with the joining of supporting services including IoT (internet of things) technologies, housekeepers and smart homes," said Chen Chi, CEO of Xiaozhu.

The latest data showed that the Beijing-based company has over 500,000 shared houses in its platform, which covers 650 cities and destinations across the world.

Li Na, partner of Yunfeng Fund, noted that the service system built by Xiaozhu has laid a foundation for further stable development of the home-sharing industry and has also become the company's core competitiveness.

Xiaozhu, founded in 2012, raised $120 million in a round of financing late last year and is locked in fierce competition with Airbnb and other domestic players in China.