Jet.com has not yet revealed its ecommerce website, but it’s founder Marc Lore has already raised more than USD 225 million with promises that his company will offer cheaper prices than Amazon for products ranging from sporting goods to toilet paper, e-commercefacts.com reports. Lore had previously set up Quidsi, which is the operator of online commerce websites like Diapers.com before selling it to Amazon for USD 550 million in 2010.
The investments made in US start-ups enable Alibab to develop more partnerships with local companies and allow them to sell directly to Chinese consumers. Furthermore, it opens a direct window to Silicon Valley trends. The investment in Jet.com is Alibaba’s biggest bet so far. At the moment, the value of Jet.com is around USD 600 million, but the company aims for USD 20 billion in annual gross merchandise volume and a gain of 15 million customers by 2020.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now