(Reuters) – Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said yesterday it would buy the remaining shares of Ele.me, a major platform in China’s food delivery market, as it competes with Tencent Holdings Ltd services for offline consumers.
Alibaba and affiliate Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group Co Ltd currently own approximately 43 percent of Ele.me, and the latest deal will value the startup a $9.5 billion, said Alibaba in a statement.
Ele.me, which roughly translates as “Hungry?”, is part of a fast-growing and competitive e-commerce market in China driven by consumers eager to use smartphones to make purchases from groceries to cinema tickets.
In August Ele.me bought major rival Baidu deliveries from Baidu Inc. For Alibaba, the latest acquisition enlarges the e-commerce firm’s food delivery empire, which also includes delivery platform Koubei, as it competes with Meituan Dianping, backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd.
