BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The group-buying portal GaoPeng.com is officially live in China today. GaoPeng, funded by Groupon, Tencent Collaboration Fund and Yunfeng Capital, is now accepting email registrations from local consumers, with daily deals promoting local merchants debuting in March.
Headquartered in Beijing, GaoPeng plans to offer consumers unbeatable prices on the best things to do, see, eat and buy in China and to deliver local merchants significant exposure and a steady stream of new customers. GaoPeng subscribers will get free daily emails alerting them to the deals. Initially, the service will cover Beijing and Shanghai, with plans to extend to other major cities in China.
The collaboration combines Groupon’s global group-buying experience with Tencent’s in-depth knowledge of Chinese online communities. Tencent established Tencent Collaboration Fund in January 2011. “Groupon is a recognized brand name with excellent operational and sales execution capabilities,” said Yun Ouyang, head of GaoPeng. “GaoPeng will learn from the international group-buying experience of Groupon while focusing on the local market in China. We are committed to catering to the local and diversified shopping needs of local customers and to the business needs of local merchants.”
The two China-based investment funds supporting GaoPeng also help strengthen the portal’s localized operation. Tencent Collaboration Fund focuses on providing capital support for leading companies in the Internet industry in order to accelerate the development of companies with growth potential. Yunfeng Capital, which is founded by respected business leaders such as Yu Feng, Jack Ma, Yuzhu Shi and Yonghao Liu, is also an investor of GaoPeng.
“We are excited to be in China collaborating with a leading Internet company and highly-respected business leaders,” said Andrew Mason, founder and CEO of Groupon. “We look forward to working with Tencent Collaboration Fund and Yunfeng Capital to bring Mainland China Internet users unbeatable deals from top local businesses and create new revenue streams for merchants.”
“GaoPeng aims to introduce a sophisticated group-buying business model and an international service standard to the market,” Ouyang said. “We hope to work together with other local group-buying portals to jointly develop this emerging market, which will ultimately benefit the consumers and merchants in China.“
About GaoPeng
Established in 2011, GaoPeng is a leading mainland group-buying portal funded by Groupon, Tencent Collaboration Fund and Yunfeng Capital. Headquartered in Beijing, GaoPeng is determined to offering best-in-class group-buying deals for the consumers in China. For more information, visit http://www.gaopeng.com.
About Groupon
Groupon, launched in November 2008 in Chicago, features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, eat, see and buy in more than 500 markets around the world. Groupon uses collective buying power to offer unbeatable prices and provide a win-win for businesses and consumers, delivering more than 650 daily deals globally. For more information, visit http://www.groupon.com.
About Tencent Collaboration Fund
Tencent Collaboration Fund, established in January 2011, is an internal fund set up by Tencent, China's largest integrated Internet services company. As one of the key initiatives under Tencent’s open development strategy, the fund aims to provide capital support for leading innovative companies in the Internet industry. Leveraging Tencent’s extensive experience in Internet technologies and value-added services, Tencent shares its operational expertise with the investee companies to help them accelerate growth.
About Yunfeng Capital
Yunfeng Capital is founded by Yu Feng, Yuzhu Shi, Jack Ma, Yonghao Liu, Guojun Shen, Nanchun Jiang, Yusuo Wang, Yihong Chen and more than 20 other leading entrepreneurs in China. The fund is one of the major private equity funds that are active in the Internet industry.