Maimai, LinkedIn’s biggest China rival, raises US$750m in funding and aims for 2019 IPO
Established only in 2013, Maimai claims to have 30 million registered users in China, with 10 million monthly active users. It broke even financially for the first time last year
Maimai.cn, China’s biggest rival to global professional networking giant LinkedIn, has secured US$750 million in a latest funding round from US top tech investors DCM Ventures and IDG Capital, and is now targeting an initial public offering (IPO) in 2019.
The Chinese networking site aimed particularly at business people, now claims to be just about neck and neck with LinkedIn in terms of users in China, as competition in the world’s largest labour market intensifies.
The funding round was led by California-based DCM, with IDG Capital and Hong Kong’s Morningside Venture Capital also taking part as investors. Zhilian Zhaopin, a Chinese job recruitment site, also agreed to become a strategic investor.
“The completion of this Series C funding round signals the company has entered a stage of rapid development. Our target is to sign up all the employees from China’s top 500 Chinese companies and top 500 global companies operating in the country,” said Lin Fan, Maimai’s founder and chief executive officer.
He said the company plans to use the funds to expand into other markets and improve its service offerings.
