Alibaba is pumping another $1bn into Lazada, taking its stake in the Southeast Asia ecommerce group to 83 per cent and doubling its bet on one of the fastest-growing — and most fragmented — markets for online shopping.
The move by the Chinese tech giant comes as Lazada’s rival Sea, formerly known as Garena and backed by Alibaba rival Tencent, is seeking to establish itself as the region’s dominant technology platform. Sea, valued at $3.75bn in March, last month raised $550m from investors and has filed for a US listing.
Alibaba, which runs China’s biggest ecommerce platforms, made its first move on Lazada in April last year, paying $1bn for a 51 per cent stake. It bought some new shares and partly replaced European investors Rocket Internet, the Berlin-based start-up incubator, and Tesco, the UK supermarket chain, which each sold down significant stakes. Lazada at that time was valued at $1.5bn.