According to the source (citing a Caixin report), Alibaba will obtain a 27.7% stake in Ele.me, becoming its biggest shareholder.
Alibaba and Ele.me both declined to comment. Ele.me, which roughly translates as Hungry Now?, is part of a trend in China for what is known as online-to-offline (O2O) services. These include taxi hailing and restaurant review apps that link smartphone users with offline businesses. Earlier in 2015, the food delivery service firm raised USD 350 million from investors including CITIC Private Equity, Tencent Holdings, Alibaba rival JD.com, Dianping and Sequoia Capital.
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