China’s e-commerce startup Xiaohongshu, or “Little Red Book,” has raised US$300 million with a valuation in excess of US$3 billion on May 31, 2018. Alibaba led this financing round, some famous investors GSR Ventures, Tencent Investment, GGV Capital, Genesis Capital, Tiantu Capital, Zhen Fund, and K11 Adrian Cheng have also participated.
Officially launched in 2013, Xiaohongshu originally gathered users by sharing shopping tips. It gradually turns to generate UGC content through users and finally evolved into a lifestyle app that covers every aspect of life.
Xiaohongshu success attributed a lot to its excellent marketing strategies in recent two years. Some popular stars such as Fan Bingbing and online celebrities are using Xiaohongshu, which attracts a lot of new users. Moreover, Xiaohongshu has tried entertainment marketing in Q1 2018 by sponsoring two popular Chinese reality show Idol Producer and Create 101.
As of May 2018, Xiaohongshu had over 100 million registered users and roughly 30 million monthly active users, three-fold more than that of a year earlier. Among which, post-90s and post-95s have become the most active users.
Xiaohongshu launched its cross-border e-commerce business in December 2014. While a half year later, the sales of Xiaohongshu broke through 200 million yuan.
Currently, Xiaohongshu strives to develop self-own brand “Bright”. And its first offline concept store REDHome will be opened in Shanghai by June 2018.
[REPORT] China Shopping Behavior 2018; value growth of FMCG rebounded