JD.com Launches Equity Crowdfunding Platform to Promote Entrepreneurship in China
March 31 2015 - 3:00AM
JD.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:JD), China's leading online direct sales
company, today announced it has launched a series of initiatives to
help finance, develop and promote the creation of start-ups in
China. The new JD Equity Crowdfunding platform, which builds upon
JD.com's success in the area of Internet finance, is expected to be
China's largest equity crowdfunding platform upon its launch today.
JD Equity Crowdfunding, which expands the range of offerings
from JD Crowdfunding, will leverage JD.com's nationwide brand and
reputation for authenticity in the e-commerce space to give China's
entrepreneurs access to a broad set of potential early-stage
investors. The new platform will provide a unique range of training
and support options for companies throughout the entire start-up
lifecycle, giving entrepreneurs a greater chance at success.
The JD.com initiatives, anchored by JD Equity Crowdfunding, will
help to create an ecosystem supporting start-ups from the funding
through the online sales stages of development. In addition to
capital through crowdfunding, companies will have access new
training courses provided by JD.com and seasoned investors and
entrepreneurs, as well as to the company's broader Internet
financing tools. In addition, they will be able to sell their
products through the company's e-commerce platform, leveraging
JD.com's unparalleled last-mile delivery network and reputation for
trust and reliability.
The company today also announced the first 11 companies to raise
funds on the JD Equity Crowdfunding platform. Among these projects,
three were featured at the launch event, including Thunderobot,
Fastwheel and WeBuzz, which focus on the areas of gaming laptops,
personal transportation devices and social media, respectively.
"I know from personal experience how important it is for
entrepreneurs to have access to knowledge and early funding," said
Richard Liu, founder and Chief Executive Officer of JD.com. "As the
leader in Chinese e-commerce, JD.com is ideally positioned to
create a premium platform to give China's early-stage companies
access to resources and seed capital from a broad range of
investors. With the advantages of JD.com's national brand,
resources and commitment to supporting early-stage companies, we
are confident that JD.com will become the leading platform for
equity crowdfunding in China. We look forward to creating
innovation and value for investors, consumers and start-ups."
"The launch of JD Equity Crowdfunding marks a major step forward
in JD.com's vision of providing a wider range of fundraising
options than have traditionally been available to China's
entrepreneurs," said Shengqiang Chen, CEO of JD Finance. "We are
dedicated to developing an ecosystem that ensures China's most
innovative entrepreneurs have access to the support they need for
success, from early fundraising and training, to an outstanding
national e-commerce distribution network."
Under the JD Equity Crowdfunding model, each investment project
will be led by a professional investment manager, from either a
venture capital (VC) firm or from a company with similar
experience, who will be responsible for working directly with the
investee companies and ensuring clear and transparent
communications with investors. Participating VCs who will help
develop JD.com's ecosystem for start-up companies include Capital
Today, ZhenFund and Sequoia Capital. As part of the program, JD.com
will take a small equity stake in the projects that successfully
raise funding through JD Equity Crowdfunding.
JD Equity Crowdfunding will join JD.com's reward-based
crowdfunding platform, which launched in July 2014 and has so far
helped start-ups raise more than RMB280 million. More than 90% of
JD Crowdfunding projects have successfully reached their
fundraising goals. Among the successful projects are 69 with a
target of RMB1 million and another seven with a target of RMB10
million. JD is now the largest crowdfunding platform in China,
contributing about a third of all money raised through crowdfunding
in the country.
About JD.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:JD):
JD.com, Inc. is the leading online direct sales company in
China. The Company strives to offer consumers the best online
shopping experience. Through its content-rich and user-friendly
website jd.com and mobile applications, JD.com offers a wide
selection of authentic products at competitive prices and delivers
products in a speedy and reliable manner. The Company believes it
has the largest fulfillment infrastructure of any e-commerce
company in China. JD.com operated 7 fulfillment centers and a total
of 123 warehouses in 40 cities, and in total 3,210 delivery
stations and pickup stations in 1,862 counties and districts across
China, staffed by its own employees. The Company provided same-day
delivery in 134 counties and districts under its 211 program and
next-day delivery in another 866 counties and districts across
China as of December 31, 2014.
CONTACT: For media inquiries, please contact:
Josh Gartner
Senior Director, International Communications
JD.com
+86-10-5895-9315
Press@JD.com
JD com (NASDAQ:JD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
JD com (NASDAQ:JD)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024